Hi,

I have a rows of data starting from A5:A500, the data in each cell has 10 characters (123456789A). In cell B5, i have used the following formula =LEFT(A5,4), as i'm only interested in the first 4 characters (these should be the same for all entries in A5:A500 (1234)). So far no problem, now in C5, I have entered my logical test =IF($F$1=B5,1,0), here is where the problem is, both B5 (1234) and F1 (1234) have the same data visually, I have ensured that both cells are formatted in number format, i even checked character lenght by using a formula, both have the same lenght.

Is the formula I have used in B5 not suitable in this case as when i manually type 1234 into B5 my logical test formula works