Type an equal sign in a spreadsheet without doing a formula

All formulas in spreadsheet programs, like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc, start with an equal sign (=). If you want to display an equal sign in a cell, but not have it start a formula, you must escape the cell by entering a single quote (') at the beginning.
For example, if you wanted to put the text "=hope" in a cell, you'd need to type the text below in the cell for it to not be treated as a formula.

'=hope