How do I compare 2 text columns & show differences in 3rd?

In Excel XP I'm trying to compare two columns and extract the differences in
the 3rd column. For example,

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
ACD ACDI I

Is it possible to perform this function?

not that i know of. What is the purpose of doing that? There may be a way to format the text so that it can be manipulated, but depends on the purpose.

For example:

if the difference is always at the end of the data string, there would be an easy solution, especially if the data strings are all the same length.

Hi,

In A1, we have the text "acdir" (without quotes) and in B1 we have the text
"acdirtyu" (without quotes). In cell C1 enter the following array formula
(Ctrl+Shift+Enter)

=IF(ISNUMBER(FIND(A1,B1)),MID(B1,COUNTA(MID($A$1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))),1))+1,10))

Please check various combinations to see how it works. If you have any
further queries, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Regards,

Ashish Mathur

"Kelli Freeman" wrote:

> In Excel XP I'm trying to compare two columns and extract the differences in
> the 3rd column. For example,
>
> Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
> ACD ACDI I
>
> Is it possible to perform this function?