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john legge's avatar
john legge
Copper Contributor
Sep 18, 2018

Problem using & symbol in conditional formatting with a formula

I have conditional formatting with a formula working for strings of text no problem. eg =$b2="Success"  but when I use in the quotes a & character it does not work for example =$b2="Success & Fail"  I assume it objects to the & in the quotes but in this case & is just another  character in the string. Can anyone help please

  • Hi John,

     

    It works if you use as vertical quotation mark symbol CHAR(34), not soft curve quotation mark (or how it called in English), CHAR(147)

     

  • Hi John,

     

    It works if you use as vertical quotation mark symbol CHAR(34), not soft curve quotation mark (or how it called in English), CHAR(147)

     

    • john legge's avatar
      john legge
      Copper Contributor

      Thanks Sergei. I am sorry but where is the vertical quotation symbol on a keyboard.  I assume the soft curve is above number 2 but that is not correct in this case?

      • SergeiBaklan's avatar
        SergeiBaklan
        MVP

        John, you may copy your formula without "=" to the cell and check symbols like this

        Another reason could be if the range to which you applied the rule starts not from B2, but from another cell

    • john legge's avatar
      john legge
      Copper Contributor

      Than


      SergeiBaklan wrote:

      Hi John,

       

      It works if you use as vertical quotation mark symbol CHAR(34), not soft curve quotation mark (or how it called in English), CHAR(147)

       



      ks All good now

      John

  • BobOrrell's avatar
    BobOrrell
    Iron Contributor

    John,

    I copied and pasted the example you provided, and it works fine for me, as long as cell B2 is exactly Success & Fail

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