Highlight cells that begin with

Generic formula 

=SEARCH("substring",A1)=1

Summary 

Note: Excel contains many built-in "presets" for highlighting values with conditional formatting, including a preset to highlight cells that begin with specific text. However, if you want more flexibility, you can use your own formula, as explained in this article.

If you want to highlight cells that begin with certain text, you can use a simple formula that returns TRUE when a cell starts with the text (substring) you specify.

For example, if you want to highlight any cells in the range B4:G12 that start with "mi", you can use:

=SEARCH("mi",B4)=1