The double minus sign converts each TRUE to a 1, and each FALSE to a zero.įinally, the SUMPRODUCT function adds up those numbers, to give the number of characters, from the left, that match. The equal sign compares the values for characters 1 through 5 in this example, and returns TRUE if they match, and FALSE if they do not match. After that, the characters are different in the two cells. However, if I do the same thing in row 5, only the first character is a match. In this screen shot, I’ve calculated both of the LEFT functions, and you can see that there is a match for lengths 1 through 9. Then, the LEFT functions return the characters that are 1, 2, 3…characters to the left in each cell. In this screen shot, I’ve used the F9 key to calculate that part of the formula, and you can see the row numbers. That’s why we use ROW/INDIRECT, instead of just referring to the length in cell C2. The ROW function returns the row for each of the rows in that range. The range ends in column A, in the row that matches the length calculated in column C. The INDIRECT function creates a reference to a range of cells, starting from cell A1. It finds how many characters, starting from the left in each cell, are a match. The formula in column D is doing the hard work. The first step in calculating the percent that the cells match is to find the length of the address in column A. Here’s a sample list, where the addresses in column A and B and being compared. Are the first 5 characters the same? The first 10? What percent of the string in A2, starting from the left, is matched in cell B2? =EXACT(RIGHT(TRIM(A2),3),RIGHT(TRIM(B2),3))įinally, here’s a formula from UniMord, who needs to know how much of a match there is between two cells.This formula will ignore extra spaces, but checks the case: You can combine LEFT or RIGHT with TRIM, if you’re not concerned about the space characters:Īnd combine LEFT or RIGHT with EXACT, to check if upper/lower case match too. For example, check the last 3 characters: To compare characters at the end of the cells, use the RIGHT function. For example, check the first 3 characters:
To compare characters at the beginning of the cells, use the LEFT function.
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Sometimes you don’t need a full comparison of two cells – you just need to check the first few characters, or a 3-digit code at the end of a string. See more EXACT function examples in my 30 Excel Functions series.
It doesn’t test the formatting though, so it won’t detect if one cell has some or all of the characters in bold, and the other cell doesn’t. This video shows a few EXACT examples.Īs its name indicate, the EXACT function can check for an exact match between text strings, including upper and lower case. If you need to compare two cells for contents and upper/lower case, use the EXACT function. That can help if you’re trying to match text strings to the values in an imported list, such as this VLOOKUP example. If you just want to compare two cells, but aren’t concerned about leading spaces, trailing spaces, or extra spaces, use the TRIM function to remove them, for one or both of the cells. (Upper and lower case versions of the same letter are treated as equal). If the cell contents are the same, the result is TRUE. The quickest way to compare two cells is with a formula that uses the equal sign. We’ll start with a simple check, then move up the formula ladder, for more complex comparisons. Aside from staring at them closely, how can you compare two cells in Excel? Here are a few functions and formulas that check the contents of two cells, to see if they are the same.
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