How to Use EXACT Function in Excel (Video in Khmer) + Tips

Hello everyone! Today i will show you how to use EXACT function in Microsoft Excel step by step.

If you have two columns of text, serial numbers, or passwords and want to check if they are 100% exact match (case-sensitive BIG vs small letters), standard equals sign =A2=B2 ignore letter case! But EXACT formula check every single letter strictly and return TRUE or FALSE.

📚 Related Tutorial: Need to clean text case first? Check out How to Change Text Case (UPPER, LOWER, PROPER) in Excel!

🛠️ Formula Syntax & How It Works

=EXACT(text1, text2)

• text1: First cell or text string to compare (example: A2).
• text2: Second cell or text string to compare (example: B2).

📊 Simple Examples

Example 1: Comparing Capital vs Small Letters

If cell A2 contain "Excel" and cell B2 contain "excel":

=EXACT(A2, B2)

• Result: FALSE (because EXACT is case-sensitive: capital E is not same as small e!)

Compare with standard =A2=B2 which return TRUE!

Example 2: Comparing Exact Same Text

If cell A2 contain "Excel" and cell B2 contain "Excel":

=EXACT(A2, B2)

• Result: TRUE

Example 3: Comparing Text with Hidden Extra Space

If cell A2 contain "Excel " (with space at end) and B2 contain "Excel":

=EXACT(A2, B2)

• Result: FALSE (because extra space makes text different!)

💡 Pro Tips for EXACT Formula

1. EXACT is Strict Case-Sensitive: Standard comparison =A2=B2 treats "EXCEL" and "excel" as equal (TRUE). Use =EXACT(A2, B2) when comparing passwords or codes where case matters!
2. Combine with IF for Custom Messages: Combine EXACT inside IF to display readable status like "Match" or "Mismatch":

   =IF(EXACT(A2, B2), "Match", "Mismatch")
   

3. Combine with TRIM to Ignore Spaces: If you want to check letter case but ignore trailing spaces, combine EXACT with TRIM:

   =EXACT(TRIM(A2), TRIM(B2))
   

4. Case-Sensitive Lookup: Combine EXACT with FILTER or XLOOKUP to perform case-sensitive data searches in Excel!

📚 Related Tutorials

• How to Change Text Case (UPPER, LOWER, PROPER) in Excel
• How to Use Text Cleaning Formulas in Excel (LEFT, RIGHT, MID, TRIM, CLEAN)
• How to Use IF Function in Excel
• Top 15 Basic Excel Formulas for Beginners