Logical
Check if multiple cells have the exact same value (Standard vs Case-Sensitive EXACT)
Compare three text codes with direct equality or case-sensitive EXACT, without treating literal wildcard characters as search patterns.
Why A2 = B2 = C2 fails in spreadsheets—and how to test N cells with or without case!
Compare each value with the anchor separately. A chained equality mixes an intermediate Boolean with the next value and is not an all-equal test.
COUNTIF criteria interpret wildcards and comparison prefixes, so COUNTIF(range,anchor) is not a general literal-equality check. Direct pairwise comparison avoids that criteria language. These examples deliberately accept text codes only; blank or numeric cells return Invalid inputs.
EXACT checks case-sensitive text equality, not byte identity, formatting, visual similarity or Unicode normalization. Whitespace is significant. Do not paste credentials into a practice workbook.
| Row Values (B : C : D) | Case-insensitive literal comparison | Strict Case-Sensitive EXACT | Audit Diagnosis |
|---|---|---|---|
| PROD-A | PROD-A | PROD-A | TRUE (3 of 3 match) | TRUE (same text) | 100% Identical |
| PROD-A | Prod-a | PROD-A | TRUE (Case ignored!) | FALSE ("Prod-a" differs!) | Casing Drift Caught! |
| PROD-A | PROD-B | PROD-A | FALSE (Only 2 of 3) | FALSE | Value Mismatch |
Strict case-sensitive equality across multiple cells with EXACT
Compare C3 and D3 separately with B3 using EXACT. All three inputs must be text.
=IF(AND(ISTEXT(B3),ISTEXT(C3),ISTEXT(D3)),AND(EXACT(B3,C3),EXACT(B3,D3)),"Invalid inputs")Case-insensitive literal equality
Compare each pair with = and combine them with AND. Literal *, ? and comparison characters have no criteria-wildcard meaning here.
=IF(AND(ISTEXT(B3),ISTEXT(C3),ISTEXT(D3)),AND(B3=C3,B3=D3),"Invalid inputs")Try the example
Use the original values or change them to test your understanding.