diff --git a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/changes.xml b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/changes.xml
index a279c64ac..cdb6bdfe8 100644
--- a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 
 		<!-- Don't forget to update status.xml too! -->
         <release version="3.5-beta6" date="2009-??-??">
+           <action dev="POI-DEVELOPERS" type="fix">47154 - Handle the cell format @ as the same as General</action>
            <action dev="POI-DEVELOPERS" type="fix">47048 - Fixed evaluation of defined names with the 'complex' flag set</action>
            <action dev="POI-DEVELOPERS" type="fix">46953 - More tweaks to PageSettingsBlock parsing logic in Sheet constructor</action>
            <action dev="POI-DEVELOPERS" type="fix">47089 - Fixed XSSFWorkbook.createSheet to properly increment sheetId</action>
diff --git a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
index 65e7caa03..2008d00b3 100644
--- a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
+++ b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 	<!-- Don't forget to update changes.xml too! -->
     <changes>
         <release version="3.5-beta6" date="2009-??-??">
+           <action dev="POI-DEVELOPERS" type="fix">47154 - Handle the cell format @ as the same as General</action>
            <action dev="POI-DEVELOPERS" type="fix">47048 - Fixed evaluation of defined names with the 'complex' flag set</action>
            <action dev="POI-DEVELOPERS" type="fix">46953 - More tweaks to PageSettingsBlock parsing logic in Sheet constructor</action>
            <action dev="POI-DEVELOPERS" type="fix">47089 - Fixed XSSFWorkbook.createSheet to properly increment sheetId</action>
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/ss/usermodel/DataFormatter.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/ss/usermodel/DataFormatter.java
index 378f3303c..50e3690f7 100755
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/ss/usermodel/DataFormatter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/ss/usermodel/DataFormatter.java
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ public class DataFormatter {
         if (format != null) {
             return format;
         }
-        if (formatStr.equals("General")) {
+        if (formatStr.equals("General") || formatStr.equals("@")) {
             if (DataFormatter.isWholeNumber(cellValue)) {
                 return generalWholeNumFormat;
             }
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/data/47154.xls b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/data/47154.xls
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2840cc61b
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/data/47154.xls differ
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/TestHSSFDataFormatter.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/TestHSSFDataFormatter.java
index e1a6e1b3c..718d909b6 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/TestHSSFDataFormatter.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/TestHSSFDataFormatter.java
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import java.text.DecimalFormat;
 import java.text.Format;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 
+import org.apache.poi.hssf.HSSFTestDataSamples;
+
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
 /**
@@ -267,6 +269,24 @@ public final class TestHSSFDataFormatter extends TestCase {
 			assertTrue(formatter.formatCellValue(cell).endsWith(" USD"));
 		}
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * A format of "@" means use the general format
+	 */
+	public void testGeneralAtFormat() {
+        HSSFWorkbook workbook = HSSFTestDataSamples.openSampleWorkbook("47154.xls");
+        HSSFSheet sheet       = workbook.getSheetAt(0);
+        HSSFRow   row         = sheet.getRow(0);
+        HSSFCell  cellA1      = row.getCell(0);
+        
+        assertEquals(HSSFCell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC, cellA1.getCellType());
+        assertEquals(2345.0, cellA1.getNumericCellValue(), 0.0001);
+        assertEquals("@", cellA1.getCellStyle().getDataFormatString());
+
+        HSSFDataFormatter f = new HSSFDataFormatter();
+        
+        assertEquals("2345", f.formatCellValue(cellA1));
+	}
 
 	private static void log(String msg) {
 		if (false) { // successful tests should be silent