Using Paste Special Value to get rid of URL formating

[magoobee]

To get rid of URL formating, I cut the cell then Paste Special-Value to another cell. Then I try to compare that cell (using conditional formating) to another cell where the same value was typed in by hand. The formula ends up FALSE even though both cells look visually the same. If I copy one of the 2 cells over the other one, the condition is TRUE. So I know the formula is correct.

Since the cells look the same, there must be some sort of non visible character still being carried over from the URL on the Paste Special-Value.

Is there another way to take the URL formating off? Is there a way for me to see why the 2 fields are different?

[MWE]

I assume that by "get rid of URL formatting" you would like to leave the displayed text in the cell alone and remove the underlying hyperlink. If so, you can simply right click on the cell and navigate to Remove Hyperlink.

Or have I misunderstood what you want to do?