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How to compare two strings for similarity or highlight differences in Excel?

In some cases, you may only need to compare two adjacent cells of strings and mark their similarities or differences in Excel. This article provides two methods for you to achieve it.

Compare two strings with formula
Compare two strings for similarity or highlight differences with VBA code

Compare two strings with formula

As below screenshot shown, if you just want to know whether the compared strings are matched or not, you can apply the following formula.

1. Select a blank cell C2, enter formula =EXACT(A2, B2) into the Formula Bar, and then press the Enter key. See screenshot:

Note: In the formula, A2 and B2 are the cells containing the comparing strings.

2. Keep selecting the result cell, then drag the Fill Handle to the cells until getting all compared results.

The FALSE result means that the compared strings are different, and the TRUE result indicates the two compared strings are matched. See screenshot:

Compare two strings for similarity or highlight differences with VBA code

If you want to compare two strings and highlight the similarities or differences between them. The following VBA code can help you.

1. Press Alt + F11 keys simultaneously to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. In the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window, click Insert > Module. Then copy and paste the following code into the Code window.

VBA code: Compare two column strings for similarity or highlight differences

Sub highlight()
    Dim xRg1 As Range
    Dim xRg2 As Range
    Dim xTxt As String
    Dim xCell1 As Range
    Dim xCell2 As Range
    Dim I As Long
    Dim J As Integer
    Dim xLen As Integer
    Dim xDiffs As Boolean
    On Error Resume Next
    If ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Count > 1 Then
      xTxt = ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.AddressLocal
    Else
      xTxt = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.AddressLocal
    End If
lOne:
    Set xRg1 = Application.InputBox("Range A:", "Kutools for Excel", xTxt, , , , , 8)
    If xRg1 Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    If xRg1.Columns.Count > 1 Or xRg1.Areas.Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox "Multiple ranges or columns have been selected ", vbInformation, "Kutools for Excel"
        GoTo lOne
    End If
lTwo:
    Set xRg2 = Application.InputBox("Range B:", "Kutools for Excel", "", , , , , 8)
    If xRg2 Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    If xRg2.Columns.Count > 1 Or xRg2.Areas.Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox "Multiple ranges or columns have been selected ", vbInformation, "Kutools for Excel"
        GoTo lTwo
    End If
    If xRg1.CountLarge <> xRg2.CountLarge Then
       MsgBox "Two selected ranges must have the same numbers of cells ", vbInformation, "Kutools for Excel"
       GoTo lTwo
    End If
    xDiffs = (MsgBox("Click Yes to highlight similarities, click No to highlight differences ", vbYesNo + vbQuestion, "Kutools for Excel") = vbNo)
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    xRg2.Font.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
    For I = 1 To xRg1.Count
        Set xCell1 = xRg1.Cells(I)
        Set xCell2 = xRg2.Cells(I)
        If xCell1.Value2 = xCell2.Value2 Then
            If Not xDiffs Then xCell2.Font.Color = vbRed
        Else
            xLen = Len(xCell1.Value2)
            For J = 1 To xLen
                If Not xCell1.Characters(J, 1).Text = xCell2.Characters(J, 1).Text Then Exit For
            Next J
            If Not xDiffs Then
                If J <= Len(xCell2.Value2) And J > 1 Then
                    xCell2.Characters(1, J - 1).Font.Color = vbRed
                End If
            Else
                If J <= Len(xCell2.Value2) Then
                    xCell2.Characters(J, Len(xCell2.Value2) - J + 1).Font.Color = vbRed
                End If
            End If
        End If
    Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

3. Press the F5 key to run the code. In the first Kutools for Excel dialog box, select the first column of text strings you need to compare, and then click the OK button.

4. Then the second Kutools for Excel dialog box pops up, please select the second column strings, and click the OK button.

5. In the last Kutools for Excel dialog box, if you want to compare strings for similarity, click the Yes button. And to highlight the differences of the compared strings, click the No button. See screenshot:

Then you can see the compared results as below screenshot shown.

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Comments (15)
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suryateja
suryateja
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Dear sir, Thank you very much for your VBA code. It is very much helpful. Actually i dont have any knowledge about coding. So, even to modify a little part of coding according to my requirement, i am helpless I have one request about this coding to make it more efficient and user friendly. Could you please help me?? The main objective of above coding is to find and highlight the differences between the data in two columns for easy reference. But, this coding is little complicated as objective is concerned. Becuase, it is considering the "spaces" between the content and it is highlight the entire data even though the strings are same. So, if we can compare the data without spaces, then we can filter the portion of highlighted data. Also, instead of highlighting only the strings those which are not similar, it is hightlighting entire data right from the first different string to the data till the end of the cell. Hence, i would like to conclude my request as below 2 points. 1) please edit the coding to compare the cells without consideirng the spaces 2) please edit the coding in such a way that it can highlight only different strings but not highlighting entire para from the first different string point. Thank you very much for you help. Regards, Surya
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Salai
Salai     suryateja
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
i have the same request as suryateja.
2) please edit the coding in such a way that it can highlight only different strings but not highlighting entire para from the first different string point.
Reply
Yogesh
Yogesh
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Above code dose not works if any cell contains formula.
Reply
SDJ
SDJ
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thank you!
Reply
Carlos
Carlos
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Need to know how I can identify strings with the same text format so I can link an acct to all those strings. For instance, if I have 1,000 cells with different content, I want to separate those that have format 042-XXX-XX-00 to link them to an acct#.
Reply
Eddy
Eddy
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hello
How do I copy Column1 next to Column2 if one or more items in Column 1 resembles / is identical to one or more items in Column2?
I'm sorry but I've been working with Excel VBA for a while and I can not find the answer to this question.
Thank you in advance for your answer.
Reply
Eddy
Eddy
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hello
How do I copy Column1 next to Column2 if one or more items in Column 1 resembles / is identical to one or more items in Column2?
I'm sorry but I've been working with Excel VBA for a while and I can not find the answer to this question.
Thank you in advance for your answer.
Reply
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Stefan
Stefan
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Very useful script! thanks
Reply
ARZ
ARZ
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
How can I get difference number between two strings?

Example: "123456" and "213456" ==> 2 difference
Reply
sean
sean
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
just want to say thanks!
Reply
Candace Lebel
Candace Lebel
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I was so hoping this would work. It appears to compare whole cells and not characters within the cells. Simply comparing Candy in one cell to Andy in another finds no similarities. And when I compare for differences the entire name Andy is highlighted in red.
Reply
Aranya
Aranya
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
THANK YOU! this is just what i needed!
Reply
Olivier
Olivier
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
To avoid any trouble of this code with the spaces which should be in ASCII value 32 or 160 (especially if the string comes from HTML) you need to include the test line 46 in a if endif loop as below:
If Not ((Asc(xCell1.Characters(J, 1).Text) = 32 Or Asc(xCell1.Characters(J, 1).Text) = 160) And (Asc(xCell2.Characters(J, 1).Text) = 32 Or Asc(xCell2.Characters(J, 1).Text) = 160)) Then
( line 46 If Not xCell1.Characters(J, 1).Text = xCell2.Characters(J, 1).Text Then Exit For)
End If

Nevertheless thanks for the code.
Reply
Ryan
Ryan     Olivier
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
How do I add this properly? I am getting an error when I tried to replace line 46. Thank you
Reply
AliM
AliM
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
in your example, words "lets try" is similar but your code can't highlight it.
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