Question

I have a VBA macro that runs and often needs to have “=” as the first character in a cell. Cells are filled with such values as “= Domestic”, “<> Domestic”, etc.

Right now I am replacing “=” with “IS” as a quickfix, but I would like it if I could keep the equal sign, for consistency with cells that use symbols such as “<>”. When I try, Excel thinks it is a function with the wrong syntax. I am using Cells(row, col).Value = x, where x is the string that may or may not start with “=”, to enter the data.

Answer 1

Add a single quote ' at the start of the string:

Cells(row, col).Value = "'" & x

and you will get what you want.