Using another column as reference in conditional formatting.

Question

I want to use conditional formatting using another column as a reference. Lets lock for this example

A              | B   
cat.12.30.dog  | cat
cow.3.cat      | dog
cat.bus        | truck
car.truck      |
bus.dog.cat    |
truck          |
dog            |

So I want to highlight cells in column A which begins with any word from column B therefor as a result of what I mean in the example I should get those cells highlighted

cat.12.30.dog 
cat.bus
truck
dog

I have tried (=SUM) but it didn't work as I want, So I am asking for any way to do this task

Best regards

Answer 1

Use this formula:

=NOT(ISERROR(MATCH(1,IF(ISERROR(SEARCH($B$1:$B$3,A1)),0,SEARCH($B$1:$B$3,A1)),0)))

The result will be like this:

Make sure you do not have trailing/leading spaces.
Hope this helps.