Excel Comparison Operators and Wildcard Characters

6 Standard Comparison Operators 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 end with • does not begin with • contains • ends with • does not contain

Wildcard characters Wildcard characters represent one or more unspecified characters and are used only in comparing text, not for numeric comparisons. Use To find

? Any single character in the same position as the question (question mark) mark. (i.e. ?an finds "can" and "man")

* Any number of characters in the same position as the asterisk (asterisk) (i.e. *an finds "can" and "trashcan")

~ Precedes ?, *, or ~ to make them usable (i.e. *~* finds (tilde) everything asterisked.