Excel - Unwanted Conversion To Date

[Jonathan-Joe]

I want the expression "9 - 3" to appear in a cell but Excel automatically converts it to "09-Mar". How can I disable this feature?

[angie55]

Enter an apostrophe before the first number. There are probably other ways.

[Jonathan-Joe]

Yes, that works but I'm now wondering why the apostrophe disappears!

[Psybbo]

Format the cell as ordinary number not Date

[angie55]

The apostrophe disappears because it's Excel's way of saying that the contents of that cell have effectively been converted to text, rather than numbers.

[Jonathan-Joe]

Thanks for answers, I should have thought about cell format. The apostrophe trick may be handy. I hate it when Excel tries to second guess me.

[Old_Geezer]

If you use the format cell menu option you can make the cell contents whatever you wish. If you leave it undefined, as most do, then Excel makes its best guess.