How to Compare Two Cells Ignoring Leading and Trailing Spaces

ID: Q142588

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

By using the TRIM worksheet function in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, you can compare the contents of two cells in such a manner that leading and trailing spaces are ignored.

MORE INFORMATION

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The following macro compares the contents of the active cell with the contents of the cell to the right. If they are the same, except for leading and trailing spaces, the word "Same" appears in a message box; otherwise, the word "Different" appears.

   Sub CompareCells()
       If Application.Trim(ActiveCell) = _
           Application.Trim(ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1)) Then
           MsgBox "Same"
       Else
           MsgBox "Different"
       End If
   End Sub

Additional query words: 5.00 5.00a 5.00c 7.00 XL98 XL97 XL7 XL5

Keywords          : kbcode kbprg PgmHowto 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0c,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999