Compare two cells for identical or shared letters

[Navarre Kid]

I am new to the forum but have been using Excel for about a decade now though I have never gotten into formulas very deeply. I have a simple problem that I need help with from someone more expert then I. The problem is how to compare two cells each with two letters and mark in a third cell on the same row whether the two cells share any letters in common. for example:

AA AT
CC TT
TT CT
GG GG

I want to have rows 1 and 3 show a match since row 1 cells share an A and row 3 shares a T.
Row two should show no match since its cells share no letters.
The bottom row should, of course, also show a match since all letters are shared

I have vast columns of these genotypes and need for Excel to tell me at a glance which cells share letters and which don't.
I also need the "match" or "no match" in a third column to allow me to sort by that column.
Thanks in advance for any solution.

[DGagnon]

Hi there, give this formula a shot, it looks at Cells A1 and B1, and is intended to be placed in C1, and filled downward

=IF(OR(ISNUMBER(FIND(LEFT(B1,1),A1)),ISNUMBER(FIND(RIGHT(B1,1),A1))),"Match","No Match")

[Navarre Kid]

Hi DGagnon,

Absolutely it worked. A million thanks and it only took 9 minutes from ask to answer.

[DGagnon]

no problem, glad i could help you out.

could you pleae mark this thread as solved?