Compare two strings and look for matching text

[bomfunk]

I would like to compare two columns to find matching text, and if there is, return "Match" on third column.

For example:

In A1:
XY12345 Cats and Dogs

In B1:
Batman with the Flash 12345

Since they both contain "12345", I will get "Match" in C1


Please tell me how to accomplish this with a formula. Thank you

 

[sericom]

That could be tricky unless the words have to be separated with a space.
eg 'an' and 'a' are in both those examples

 

[steve the fish]

Hi. I think im right in saying that the simple answer is you cant, at least you cant without more rules. They both contain an 'a' aswell. Does that make them a match? Do you understand what I mean? And even with more rules it would probably require VBA.

 

[bomfunk]

A match should be any 3 letters or numbers

 

[bomfunk]

3 or more

 

[FormR]

3 or more

Hi, here is one possible option you could try:

<b>Excel 2013</b><table cellpadding="2.5px" rules="all" style=";background-color: #FFFFFF;border: 1px solid;border-collapse: collapse; border-color: #BBB"><colgroup><col width="25px" style="background-color: #DAE7F5" /><col /><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr style=" background-color: #DAE7F5;text-align: center;color: #161120"><th></th><th>A</th><th>B</th><th>C</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr ><td style="color: #161120;text-align: center;">1</td><td style="color: #333333;;">XY12345 Cats and Dogs</td><td style="color: #333333;;">Batman with the Flash 12345</td><td style="background-color: #FFFF00;;">Match</td></tr><tr ><td style="color: #161120;text-align: center;">2</td><td style="color: #333333;;">XY12 Cats and Dogs</td><td style="color: #333333;;">Batman with the Flash 12345</td><td style=";">Not Match</td></tr><tr ><td style="color: #161120;text-align: center;">3</td><td style="color: #333333;;">XY12 Cats and Dogs</td><td style="color: #333333;;">Batman wiXY12 Flash 123</td><td style=";">Match</td></tr><tr ><td style="color: #161120;text-align: center;">4</td><td style="color: #333333;;">not a match</td><td style="color: #333333;;">ot a ma</td><td style=";">Not Match</td></tr><tr ><td style="color: #161120;text-align: center;">5</td><td style="color: #333333;;">is a match</td><td style="color: #333333;;">bla atc bla</td><td style=";">Match</td></tr><tr ><td style="color: #161120;text-align: center;">6</td><td style="color: #333333;;">ham egg and chips</td><td style="color: #333333;;">hamburger and fries</td><td style=";">Match</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="width:3.6em;font-weight:bold;margin:0;padding:0.2em 0.6em 0.2em 0.5em;border: 1px solid #BBB;border-top:none;text-align: center;background-color: #DAE7F5;color: #161120">Sheet1</p><br /><br /><table width="85%" cellpadding="2.5px" rules="all" style=";border: 2px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;padding: 0.4em;background-color: #FFFFFF" ><tr><td style="padding:6px" ><b>Worksheet Formulas</b><table cellpadding="2.5px" width="100%" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid;text-align:center;background-color: #FFFFFF;border-collapse: collapse; border-color: #BBB"><thead><tr style=" background-color: #DAE7F5;color: #161120"><th width="10px">Cell</th><th style="text-align:left;padding-left:5px;">Formula</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th width="10px" style=" background-color: #DAE7F5;color: #161120">C1</th><td style="text-align:left">=IF(<font color="Blue">SUMPRODUCT(<font color="Red">--(<font color="Green">ISNUMBER(<font color="Purple">SEARCH(<font color="Teal">MID(<font color="#FF00FF">SUBSTITUTE(<font color="Navy">A1," ","|"</font>),ROW(<font color="Navy">INDEX(<font color="Blue">A:A,1</font>):INDEX(<font color="Blue">A:A,LEN(<font color="Red">A1</font>)-2</font>)</font>),3</font>),B1</font>)</font>)</font>)</font>)>0,"Match","Not Match"</font>)</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></table><br />