EXACT
Compares two text strings and returns TRUE if they are exactly the same (case-sensitive).
EXACT(text1, text2)Arguments
text1First text stringtext2Second text string
=EXACT("Hello","hello")Case sensitive comparison
=EXACT(A1,B1)Compares two cells exactly
=EXACT("Test","Test")Identical strings
- •Case-sensitive unlike = operator
- •Useful for password validation
- •Returns TRUE or FALSE
- •Using = to compare text thinking it's case-sensitive - the = operator ignores case, EXACT is the only one that respects it
- •Forgetting EXACT also compares extra spaces - two strings that look identical but have a stray extra space return FALSE
- •Using EXACT to compare numbers or dates when it's built for text and converts everything to a string first
TRIMStrips extra spaces before an EXACT comparison, to avoid a false FALSE.UPPERCan be applied to both sides if you actually want to ignore case while still comparing strictly otherwise.SUBSTITUTEUseful for cleaning up formatting differences before comparing with EXACT.What's the difference between EXACT and the = operator?
The = operator ignores case, so "Hello"="hello" returns TRUE. EXACT is case-sensitive and would return FALSE for the same comparison.
Does EXACT ignore extra spaces?
No, EXACT compares character by character, including spaces. Run TRIM on both values first if spacing shouldn't count.
Why use EXACT to validate a password?
Because case matters for a password - "Password1" and "password1" need to be treated as different, which only EXACT guarantees against a normal case-insensitive comparison.
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