=LEFT(A1,5)="spare" would be the formula you apply in the conditional format
dialogue box to test if the 5 left most characters show "spare"

This of course assumes that "spare" will always be on the left hand side of
the cell contents.

Dave
--
Brevity is the soul of wit.


"Anita" wrote:

Hi

I'm using Excel XP.

I want to colour all the cells on a worksheet in green if the cells contain
the word spare - the cells may also have other text as well as the word spare
for eg. spare 09:00 or spare 15:30. I can't seem to work out how to do this
using conditional formatting - is there a way to write a custom format to do
this?

Any help really appreciated.

Anita