Excel Gradually Deletes Multiple Extraneous Plus Signs

Category: General Weirdness | [Item URL]

This is kind of odd. Enter the following formula into a cell:

=++++21

Sure, it's an odd formula, but it's legal. Excel accepts it and returns 21.

Next, activate the cell and press F2 to enter EDIT mode. Don't make any changes; just press Enter. The formula now appears as:

=+++21

Excel removed one of the plus signs. Press F2 and Enter again, and you'll find that Excel removes another plus sign. Keep repeating it until all of the plus signs are removed and you're left with this formula:

=21

You get different behavior if you substitute a cell reference for the constant:

=++++A1

In this case, Excel keeps all of the extraneous plus signs when you edit the formula.

Try this one:

=++++12++++45++++96

With each edit, Excel removes one plus sign from each of the three groups of plus signs. But, similar to the cell reference example above, it won't modify this formula:

=++++A1++++A2++++A3

Contributed by Joe Rosebrock.