Try something like this:

For lists in A1:B50

D1: =COUNTIF($B$1:$B$50,LEFT(A1,9)&"*")>0

copy that formula down as far as you need.

If you don't want "hits" on blank cells, use this:
D1: =COUNTIF($B$1:$B$50,LEFT(A1&" ",9)&"*")>0


Does that help?

***********
Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro


"Sweetetc" wrote:

> I have two columns of data. Each row cell is 27 characters long. I want to
> find any duplicate matches between the two columns on just the 1st 9
> characters of each cell. Is there a function that can do this?
>
> --
> Thanks
> ETC