Usually all formulas start with an equal sign (=) Other characters too have
some special meaning in that when entered instead of the equals sign, Excel
entered the equals by its self and, sometimes, removes that character. For
example minus, plus, or @.
Is a list of all meaningful character available somewhere?

On my Excel 2003 entering -A1 turns to =A1, +A1 turns to =+A1

@A1 tells me "not a valid function"

The list is probably complete as above.

I can find no others by experiment.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:38:01 -0700, Tevuna <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Usually all formulas start with an equal sign (=) Other characters too have
>some special meaning in that when entered instead of the equals sign, Excel
>entered the equals by its self and, sometimes, removes that character. For
>example minus, plus, or @.
>Is a list of all meaningful character available somewhere?

I would have hoped that -A1 turned to =-A1, not to =A1. It does on mine.
--
David Biddulph

"Gord Dibben" <gorddibbATshawDOTca> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On my Excel 2003 entering -A1 turns to =A1, ...

> On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:38:01 -0700, Tevuna
> <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>>Usually all formulas start with an equal sign (=) Other characters too
>>have
>>some special meaning in that when entered instead of the equals sign,
>>Excel
>>entered the equals by its self and, sometimes, removes that character. For
>>example minus, plus, or @.
>>Is a list of all meaningful character available somewhere?
>

Your eyes are better than mine.

Tried again and adjusted the bifocals.

=-A1 is what I see upon closer inspection.

Thanks David


Gord

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:11:23 +0100, "David Biddulph" <groups [at]
biddulph.org.uk> wrote:

>I would have hoped that -A1 turned to =-A1, not to =A1. It does on mine.