Try something like this:
Assuming your data is in Cells A1:AJ100

Select that range, with A1 as the active cell
FormatConditional formatting
Formula is: =COUNTIF($A1:$AJ1,A1)1
Click the [Format...] button
Set the format you want, then click the [OK] buttons.

(Note the dollar signs in the forumula above)

Change range references to suit your situation.

Does that help?

***********
Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro


"Diggsy" wrote:

Hello,
I hace a worksheet that has many rows of data with 36 columns. I need to
find a way that if two or more columns in that row have matching values, I
can change the background color to red

Here is a example. The numbers are actually formatted as text and not numbers.
A B C D E F G
12 14 16 8 24 8 14 -----Cells B D F G should be red
15 5 6 5 6 2 9 Cells B C D E should be red

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

regards

Chris