Comparison of two text strings

[koopalola]

Hi,

I have a simple problem but it seems quite complex to solve.

I must find differences between two columns (both very similar text strings). The checking process is very manual so it doesn't really matter how the differences will be indicated. Here are some methods that I've been thinking of


Method 1: Giving the text strings a comparison score. Checking how many characters match and giving a scoring percent.

Method 2: Checking how many characters match in the beginning and in the end of the text string and then replacing those matching parts with blanks so that only differing middle part would remain.

Method 3: Erasing all those characters (1-by-1) that are represented in both columns.

Column1 Column2
ABCDEFG ABCCEFG

ANSWERS
Method 1: 86 %
Method 2: D
Method 3: C or D


Above is an example columns and the answers im looking for with different methods. Method 3 will give an answer D or C depending on how you do the picking out part (do you pick characters of column 1 from column 2 or vice versa).

I'm not looking for solution to every method. Any solution that work is good for this job.
Preferrably I'm looking for non-VBA method.

I believe there is a simple method to do the job but I haven't found any yet.

[Patronus]

Hi,

Using VBA will help in my opinion, but you can do it with formulas only. With tabullar formulas (CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER).
My solution is in the attachment.

[Sam Capricci]

Patronus, it isn't a requirement on this forum but is recommended that when you post a solution within a workbook you also post the formula in the post so it is visible to others.
not everyone can open workbooks d/t firewalls or security reasons. And it allows others to see what has been proposed and it is then visible for searches.

[Patronus]

Ok, I'll try to do it, but it's hard becouse i work in polish version of Excel and i must translate every formula - what i do with simple ones, but this was too big for me.

[Sam Capricci]

Well, glad to have you contributing to the forum and you can only do what you can do.