SEARCH and IFNUMBER when looking for a \"*\" (literally a *) So, here\'s my issu

Question

SEARCH and IFNUMBER when looking for a "*" (literally a *)

So, here's my issue. I have the following sample below. Anyone with a * OR an & after their name works remotely.   I'm using this formula -

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("*",A1)),"Remote",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("&",A1)),"Remote","Not Remote")) .

It works just dandy if you take out the first string and only look for the & (which leaves only IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("&",A1)),"Remote","Not Remote")), but I believe Excel is understanding the * to mean "anything at all" and so if you use it on the list below, it returns "Remote" for every single row unless the cell is blank.

How do I write this for it to understand that the * isn't a * but instead literally a "*"?

Thanks!

Explanation / Answer

Hi,

To turn the wildcard * into a literal character you must prefix it with a tilde ( ~ ) like this.

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("~*",A2)),"Remote",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("&",A2)),"Remote","Not Remote"))

Hope this help !!

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