Excel Comparison Operators and Wildcard Characters
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Signs/symbols
that are used in comparison criteria to compare values.
| Operator | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| = | Equal to | Difficulty=Moderate |
| > | Greater than | Length>5 |
| < | Less than | ElevLow<5000 |
| >= | Greater than or equal to | ElevHigh<=5500 |
| <= | Less than or equal to | Length<=10 |
| <> (or !=) | Not equal to | TrailGroup<>Lakeview |
6 Custom Filter Operators (text only) |
|
|
• begins with • does not begin with • ends with |
• does not end with • contains • does not contain |
Wildcard charactersWildcard
characters represent one or more unspecified characters and are used
only in comparing text, not for numeric comparisons. |
| Use | To find |
|---|---|
| ? (question mark) |
Any single character in the same position as the question mark. (i.e. ?an finds "can" and "man") |
| * (asterisk) |
Any number of characters in the same position as the asterisk (i.e. *an finds "can" and "trashcan") |
| ~ (tilde) |
Precedes ?, *, or ~ to make them usable (i.e. *~* finds everything asterisked. |