Microsoft KB Archive/214153

= How to count the occurrences of a number or text in a range in Excel for Mac =

Article ID: 214153

Article Last Modified on 1/24/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2004 for Mac
 * Microsoft Excel X for Mac
 * Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac
 * Microsoft Excel 98 for Macintosh
 * Microsoft Office Excel 2003
 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q214153



SUMMARY
This article explains how you can use worksheet functions in Microsoft Excel for Mac to count the number of occurrences of a specific number or text string in a range of cells on a worksheet. The "More Information" section of this article contains sample formulas that you can use to do this.



MORE INFORMATION
In the cell that you want the result to appear in, enter the appropriate formula from the following examples.

How to Count the Occurrences of a Number
Use this formula

=SUM(IF( = ,1,0))

where  is the range that you want to search, and   is the number that you want to count.

NOTE: This formula must be entered as an array formula. To enter an array formula, press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.

Method 1
Use this formula

=SUM(IF( =" ",1,0))

where  is the range that you want to search, and   is the text that you want to find (the text must be enclosed in quotation marks).

NOTE: The above formula must be entered as an array formula. To enter an array formula, press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.

Method 2
Use the COUNTIF function to count the occurrences of a text string. For example, use the formula

=COUNTIF( ," ")

where  is the range of cells that you are evaluating, and   is the text string that you want to count instances of (note that   must be enclosed in quotation marks).

NOTE: This formula must be entered as an array formula. To enter an array formula, press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.

Wildcard characters can be used within the COUNTIF function.

The asterisk character (*) represents more than one character. For example, to count all the cells in the range a1:a10 that contain an "x," you can use the following formula:

=COUNTIF(a1:a10,"*x*")

The question mark character (?) can also be used to represent one wildcard character -- for example, to count all cells in the range whose second character is the letter, such as "ax" or "bx."

=COUNTIF(a1:a10,"?x*")

Additional query words: XL2002 XL2000 MacXLX Mac XLX XL2001 XL98 XL97 XL7 howto answer

Keywords: kbhowto KB214153

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