<div>
Do you want to compare row by row or compare a value in one column against any value in the other?<br />
<br />
If it's the former you can just use<br />
<br />
=A2=B2<br />
<br />
or to compare A2 against any value in column B<br />
<br />
=COUNTIF(B:B,A2)&gt;0<br />
<br />
You can use either formula on the worksheet and copy down the columns......or use within conditional formatting to format the relevant cells as required<br />
<br />
regards, barry
</div>


Do you want to compare row by row or compare a value in one column against any value in the other?

If it's the former you can just use

=A2=B2

or to compare A2 against any value in column B

=COUNTIF(B:B,A2)>0

You can use either formula on the worksheet and copy down the columns......or use within conditional formatting to format the relevant cells as required

regards, barry

<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
In Excel, is there a way to compare column A and B and highlight if the different? <br />
<br />
sample <br />
<br />
accountnumber_A &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;accountnumber_B<br />
<br />
12345 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 11111<br />
7890 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 22222<br />
2222 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 12345<br />
etc
</div>
</div>


In Excel, is there a way to compare column A and B and highlight if the different? 

sample 

accountnumber_A      accountnumber_B

12345                         11111
7890                           22222
2222                           12345
etc

Excel - compare columns

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is an object-oriented programming language implemented on the .NET framework, but also supported on other platforms such as Mono and Silverlight. Microsoft launched VB.NET as the successor to the Visual Basic language. Though it is similar in syntax to  Visual Basic pre-2002, it is not the same technology,

Visual Basic.NET

Microsoft Excel topics include formulas, formatting, VBA macros and user-defined functions, and everything else related to the spreadsheet user interface, including error messages.

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office is an integrated suite of applications that includes Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Visio and InfoPath, along with a number of tools to assist in making the individual components work together. Coding within and between the projects is done in Visual Basic for Applications, known as VBA.