Microsoft KB Archive/24275

{| = Excel: Counting Cells with Text Only & Counting NonBlank Cells =
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Last reviewed: November 2, 1994

Article ID: Q24275

SUMMARY
The Microsoft Excel COUNT function counts the number of cells that contain numbers in a selection, and the COUNTA function counts the number of nonblank cells in a selection.

To obtain a count of the number of cells that contain text entries, use the following formula

=COUNTA(ref)-COUNT(ref) where "ref" is the reference to the cells being checked.

MORE INFORMATION
The COUNTA function is not available in Microsoft Excel versions 1.06 and earlier. To count the number of nonblank cells in these versions of Excel, use the following formula

=SUM(IF(LEN(ref)>0,1,0)) where "ref" is the reference to the cells being checked. The formula must be entered as an array formula by pressing COMMAND+ENTER once the formula has been typed. To obtain a count of the number of cells that contain text entries in Microsoft Excel versions 1.06 and earlier, use the following formula

=SUM(IF(LEN(ref)>0,1,0))-COUNT(ref) where "ref" is the reference to the cells being checked. The formula must be entered as an array formula by pressing COMMAND+ENTER once the formula has been typed.
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