Two cells whose contents look alike but aren't

[josh]

I have an what appears to be a five digit integer in cell "A1" which has a
very strange property. If I type the same five digits into cell "A2" and
then in a cell "A3" type the function =if(Range("A1") =
Range("A2"),"Yes","no") the result is "no". If I then double click cell
"A1" (as if I wanted to edit) and hit the enter key, the function value
magically changes to "yes". The strange integer was copied from the zip code
field of an address file.

Can anyone please tell me what's going on?

 

[Juan Pablo González]

The number in A1 is stored as text. When you edit the cell and hit enter,
you force Excel to change it to a real number.

 

[josh]

Many thanks, Juan, I understand the situation now.