In this case please put a single quote in A2. Excel is treating the
empty Cell as Null and showing that it has Zero value.

wrote:
On Aug 5, 5:19 pm, Bob I wrote:

Office button, Excel Options, Advanced, Display options for this
Worksheet, Show a zero in cells that have zero value.


Thanks for the tip. However, it doesn't fully work. My situation is:
cell A2: blank ("")
cell B2: =A2
cell C2: =B2 & " some other text"

If I deselct the option you mention, B2 is shown as blank, but C2 is
still shown as "0 some other text". In other words, Excel still
considers B2 as containing a zero, regardless of whether it shows it
or not.
I still believe the whole concept is wrong: a blank is not a zero!
I found a solution using an if formula, but still believe it's all
absurd.
One more reason to use databases rather than Excel every time I can...

Thanks for your time, anyway!

PS just to avoid any misunderstanding, I'm ****ed off at Excel, not at
you: I do appreciate your help :)