EXACT function

This article describes the formula syntax and usage of the EXACT function in Microsoft Excel.

Description

Compares two text strings and returns TRUE if they are exactly the same, FALSE otherwise. EXACT is case-sensitive but ignores formatting differences. Use EXACT to test text being entered into a document.

Syntax

EXACT(text1, text2)

The EXACT function syntax has the following arguments:

• Text1    Required. The first text string.

• Text2    Required. The second text string.

Example

Copy the example data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press Enter. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.

First string	Second string
word	word
Word	word
w ord	word
Formula	Description	Result
=EXACT(A2,B2)	Checks whether the strings in the first row match	TRUE
=EXACT(A3,B3)	Checks whether the strings in the second row match ("W" is uppercase in A3)	FALSE
=EXACT(A4,B4)	Checks whether the strings in the third row match (A4 contains a space between "w" and "ord)	FALSE