How to use a cell in Excel that has a formula as a condition?

Question

I am trying to use a formulated cell to make a condition, but it failed.

For example:

Cell A1 contains number '12345'

In Cell B1, I insert '=Left(A1,3)', so it returns '123'

In Cell C1, I insert '=IF(B1=123,"Yes","No")', it should return Yes, but I don't know why it returns No.

Any idea about this? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

When you use the LEFT function on a number it changes the number to text. Try:

=LEFT(A1,3)+0

Using a math operation such as "+0" will change the text back to a number.

Answer 2

Are you sure it returns 123? It could just return 3 because it is the 3rd character on the left of the cell! You might want to check this.