There's nothing built into excel that lets you do that.

But you could create a user defined function that did it.

Option Explicit
Function Eval(myStr As String) As Variant
Eval = Application.Evaluate(myStr)
End Function

If you're new to macros, you may want to read David McRitchie's intro at:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

Short course:

Open your workbook.
Hit alt-f11 to get to the VBE (where macros/UDF's live)
hit ctrl-R to view the project explorer
Find your workbook.
should look like: VBAProject (yourfilename.xls)

right click on the project name
Insert, then Module
You should see the code window pop up on the right hand side

Paste the code in there.

Now go back to excel.

Then use a formula like:

=eval(A24)
if A24 contained the string to evaluate.



Nigel Ramsden wrote:
>
> Is it possible to refer to text in a cell as though it were a formula, ie
> execute it instead of displaying it? Eg if the result of your formula was
> "A1 + B2", to actually add A1 and B2 and display the result?
>
> Thanks
>
> Nigel

--

Dave Peterson