Determining The Difference Between Two Text Strings That Look Alike

[MikeG]

I have imported some data into Excel and in some cases I have two strings that look the same when displayed in my worksheet. However when I test if they are equal, I get "FALSE". Here is an example:

003-100886
003-100886

I have checked the length and they both come back with 10.

Does anyone know some other tests I can try?

What might be going on here - are there hidden things that Excel can never get to?

Thanks,

MikeG

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

In that particular case I would check that the fourth character has the same ASCII code. Also I would check that they look the same in the formula bar, since number formatting could have been applied.

 

[MikeG]

In that particular case I would check that the fourth character has the same ASCII code. Also I would check that they look the same in the formula bar, since number formatting could have been applied.

Thanks Andrew.

The fourth character looks the same in the bar, and is ASCII 45 for both.

However, I just did a formula that put a "" in front of each (using the formula type =""&B1) and then I got a TRUE return when testing if they are equal.

Hmmm

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

That formula would convert a number to text, but do nothing to text. Do you want to put your workbook on a share like Box.com and post the URL so that I can take a look at it?

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

The two strings in the workbook you sent me aren't the same:

[TABLE="width: 109"]
<TBODY>[TR]
[TD]003-100866</SPAN>[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]003-100886</SPAN>[/TD]
[/TR]
</TBODY><COLGROUP><COL></COLGROUP>[/TABLE]