Treat the = sign as a text symbol not formula

Skipaz · General User Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 9

I want to put the = sign in a cell to display as a symbol not as a formula
How do I do that?
Thanks in advance

Mark B · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:09 am Post subject:

Hi

Type:

Villeroy · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:10 am Post subject:

Option 1: Disable recognition of numbers and formulas for many cells in advance: Select the cells in question, Menu:Format>Cells...tab:Numbers, Category:Text
No formatting will ever affect existing numbers nor formulas.
Option 2: Enforce text input for the current input cell: Prepend a single quote. The single quote will not be part of the text value.

In any case text cells with numbers and formulas disabled behave like this:
With text value "1234" in A1
=ISTEXT(A1) =>TRUE
=ISNUMBER(A1) =>FALSE
=LEN(A1) =>4 [if we entered '1234, the leading quote is not seen as part of the value]
=VALUE(A1) =>numeric 1234 [if we entered '1234, the leading quote is not seen as part of the value and the text is converted to number]
=SUM(A1:B5) in A1 is simply the text "=SUM(A1:B5)" in A1
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David · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:33 am Post subject:

In all the math spreadsheets I've done using = signs, I have them in separate cells, so all you need to do is to type the equal sign character, then ENTER to have it inserted as text.

David.