Countif function for excel

COUNTIF function in Excel is used to count the number of cells in the range in question, the data contained in which meet the criterion passed as the second argument to this function, and returns the corresponding numeric value.

COUNTIFS function can be used to analyze numeric values, text strings, dates, and other types of data. It can be used to determine the number of non-repeating values in a range of cells, as well as the number of cells with data that only partially coincide with the specified criterion. For example, an Excel table contains a column with the full name of customers. To determine the number of namesake customers with the name Jon, you can enter the function =COUNTIF(A1:A300,»*Jon*»). The symbol «*» indicates any number of any characters before and after the substring «Jon».



Examples of using the COUNTIF function in Excel

Example 1. The Excel spreadsheet contains data on sales of goods in the hardware store for the day. Determine how much of the Samsung products are sold.

View source data table:

For the calculation we use the formula:

=COUNTIF(C3:C17,»Samsung») / A17

Argument Description:

• C3:C17 is the range of cells containing the names of the companies of the equipment sold;
• «Samsung» — search criteria (exact match);
• A17 is the cell storing the number of the last sale corresponding to the total number of sales.

The result of the calculation:

The percentage of Samsung products sold is a percentage of 40%.



Counting the number of a particular cell value in Excel provided

Example 2. According to the results of the exams, it is necessary to create a table containing data on the number of students who passed the subject for 5, 4, 3 points, respectively, as well as those who did not pass the subject.

View source table:

First select the cells E2:E5, enter the formula below:

=COUNTIF(B3:B19,D2:D5)

Argument Description:

• B3:B19 — cell range with exam grades;
• D2:D5 is the range of cells containing the criteria for counting the number of matches.

As a result, we get the table:

Statistical analysis of attendance using the account function in Excel

Example 3. The Excel spreadsheet stores data on page views of the site by the day. Determine the number of users of the site per day, as well as how many times a day users came to the site with default and user_1 logins.

View source table:

Since each user has his own unique identifier in the database (Id), let’s calculate the number of site users per day using the following array formula and to calculate it, press the key combination Ctrl + Shift + Enter:

The expression 1 / COUNTIF(A3:A20,A3:A20) returns an array of fractional numbers 1 / number_notes, for example, for a user with the nickname sam, this value is 0.25 (4 occurrences). The total sum of such values, calculated by the SUM function, corresponds to the number of unique occurrences, that is, the number of users on the site. The resulting value:

To determine the number of pages viewed by the users default and user_1, we write the formula:

As a result of the calculation we get:

Features of using the COUNTIF function in Excel

The function has the following syntax entry:

=COUNTIF(Range,Criteria)

Argument Description:

• Range — a required argument that accepts a link to one or several cells in which the number of matches with the specified criterion is required to be determined.
• Criteria — the condition according to which the calculation of the number of matches in the considered range is performed. The condition can be a boolean expression, a numeric value, a text string, a Date value, a cell reference.

Notes:

1. When counting the number of occurrences in a range in accordance with two different conditions, a range of cells can be considered as a set containing two or more disjoint subsets. For example, in the table «Furniture» you need to find the number of tables and chairs. For calculations, we use the expression =COUNTIF(B3:B200,»*table*»)+COUNTIF(B3:B200,»*chair*»).
2. If a text string is specified as a criterion, it should be noted that the case of characters does not matter. For example, the =COUNTIF(A1:A2,»Joni») function returns the value 2 if the cells «joni» and «Joni» are written in cells A1 and A2, respectively.
3. If the criterion is passed as an argument to a reference to an empty cell or an empty string «», the result of the calculation for any range of cells will be the numeric value 0 (zero).
4. The function can be used as an array formula if you need to calculate the number of cells with data that satisfies several criteria at once. This feature will be considered in one of the examples.
5. The function in question can be used to determine the number of matches, either one at a time or according to several search criteria at once. In the latter case, two or more COUNTIF functions are used, the returned results of which are added or subtracted. For example, cells A1:A10 store a sequence of values from 1 to 10. To counting cells with numbers greater than 3 and less than 8, you must perform the following steps:

Download examples COUNTIF function for counting of cell in Excel

• write down the first function of COUNTIF with criterion «>3»;
• write the second function with the criterion «>=8»;
• to determine the difference between the returned values =COUNTIF(A1:10,»>3″)-COUNTIF(A1:A10,»>= 8″). That is, subtract from the set (3,+∞) the subset [8,+∞).

The COUNTIF function counts cells in a range that meet a given condition, referred to as criteria. COUNTIF is a common, widely used function in Excel, and can be used to count cells that contain dates, numbers, and text. Note that COUNTIF can only apply a single condition. To count cells with multiple criteria, see the COUNTIFS function.

Syntax

The generic syntax for COUNTIF looks like this:

=COUNTIF(range,criteria)

The COUNTIF function takes two arguments, range and criteria. Range is the range of cells to apply a condition to. Criteria is the condition to apply, along with any logical operators that are needed.

Applying criteria

The COUNTIF function supports logical operators (>,<,<>,<=,>=) and wildcards (*,?) for partial matching. The tricky part about using the COUNTIF function is the syntax used to apply criteria. COUNTIFS is in a group of eight functions that split logical criteria into two parts, range and criteria. Because of this design, each condition requires a separate range and criteria argument, and operators in the criteria must be enclosed in double quotes («»). The table below shows examples of the syntax needed for common criteria:

Notice the last two examples involve concatenation with the ampersand (&) character.  Any time you are using a value from another cell, or using the result of a formula in criteria with a logical operator like «<«, you will need to concatenate. This is because Excel needs to evaluate cell references and formulas first to get a value, before that value can be joined to an operator.

Basic example

In the worksheet shown above, the following formulas are used in cells G5, G6, and G7:

=COUNTIF(D5:D12,">100") // count sales over 100
=COUNTIF(B5:B12,"jim") // count name = "jim"
=COUNTIF(C5:C12,"ca") // count state = "ca"

Notice COUNTIF is not case-sensitive, «CA» and «ca» are treated the same.

Double quotes («») in criteria

In general, text values need to be enclosed in double quotes («»), and numbers do not. However, when a logical operator is included with a number, the number and operator must be enclosed in quotes, as seen in the second example below:

=COUNTIF(A1:A10,100) // count cells equal to 100
=COUNTIF(A1:A10,">32") // count cells greater than 32
=COUNTIF(A1:A10,"jim") // count cells equal to "jim"

Value from another cell

A value from another cell can be included in criteria using concatenation. In the example below, COUNTIF will return the count of values in A1:A10 that are less than the value in cell B1. Notice the less than operator (which is text) is enclosed in quotes.

=COUNTIF(A1:A10,"<"&B1) // count cells less than  B1

Not equal to

To construct «not equal to» criteria, use the «<>» operator surrounded by double quotes («»). For example, the formula below will count cells not equal to «red» in the range A1:A10:

=COUNTIF(A1:A10,"<>red") // not "red"

Blank cells

COUNTIF can count cells that are blank or not blank. The formulas below count blank and not blank cells in the range A1:A10:

=COUNTIF(A1:A10,"<>") // not blank
=COUNTIF(A1:A10,"") // blank

Note: be aware that COUNTIF treats formulas that return an empty string («») as not blank. See this example for some workarounds to this problem.

Dates

The easiest way to use COUNTIF with dates is to refer to a valid date in another cell with a cell reference. For example, to count cells in A1:A10 that contain a date greater than the date in B1, you can use a formula like this:

=COUNTIF(A1:A10, ">"&B1) // count dates greater than A1

Notice we must concatenate an operator to the date in B1. To use more advanced date criteria (i.e. all dates in a given month, or all dates between two dates) you’ll want to switch to the COUNTIFS function, which can handle multiple criteria.

The safest way to hardcode a date into COUNTIF is to use the DATE function. This ensures Excel will understand the date. To count cells in A1:A10 that contain a date less than April 1, 2020, you can use a formula like this

=COUNTIF(A1:A10,"<"&DATE(2020,4,1)) // dates less than 1-Apr-2020

Wildcards

The wildcard characters question mark (?), asterisk(*), or tilde (~) can be used in criteria. A question mark (?) matches any one character and an asterisk (*) matches zero or more characters of any kind. For example, to count cells in A1:A5 that contain the text «apple» anywhere, you can use a formula like this:

=COUNTIF(A1:A5,"*apple*") // cells that contain "apple"

To count cells in A1:A5 that contain any 3 text characters, you can use:

=COUNTIF(A1:A5,"???") // cells that contain any 3 characters

The tilde (~) is an escape character to match literal wildcards. For example, to count a literal question mark (?), asterisk(*), or tilde (~), add a tilde in front of the wildcard (i.e. ~?, ~*, ~~).

OR logic

The COUNTIF function is designed to apply just one condition. However, to count cells that contain «this OR that», you can use an array constant and the SUM function like this:

=SUM(COUNTIF(range,{"red","blue"})) // red or blue

The formula above will count cells in range that contain «red» or «blue». Essentially, COUNTIF returns two counts in an array (one for «red» and one for «blue») and the SUM function returns the sum. For more information, see this example.

Limitations

The COUNTIF function has some limitations you should be aware of:

• COUNTIF only supports a single condition. If you need to count cells using multiple criteria, use the COUNTIFS function.
• COUNTIF requires an actual range for the range argument; you can’t provide an array. This means you can’t alter values in range before applying criteria.
• COUNTIF is not case-sensitive. Use the EXACT function for case-sensitive counts.
• COUNTIFS has other quirks explained in this article.

The most common way to work around the limitations above is to use the SUMPRODUCT function. In the current version of Excel, another option is to use the newer BYROW and BYCOL functions.

Notes

• Text strings in criteria must be enclosed in double quotes («»), i.e. «apple», «>32», «app*»
• Cell references in criteria are not enclosed in quotes, i.e. «<«&A1
• The wildcard characters ? and * can be used in criteria. A question mark matches any one character and an asterisk matches any sequence of characters (zero or more).
• To match a literal question mark(?) or asterisk (*), use a tilde (~) like (~?, ~*).
• COUNTIF requires a range, you can’t substitute an array.
• COUNTIF returns incorrect results when used to match strings longer than 255 characters.
• COUNTIF will return a #VALUE error when referencing another workbook that is closed.

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COUNTIF function in excel is used to count the number of cells that match a single condition applied. It can include Dates, Numbers, and Texts. It uses various logical operators like <(Less Than), >(Greater Than), >=(Greater Than or Equal to), <=(Less Than or Equal to), =(Equals to), and <>(NOT) for matching the condition. It also uses some wildcard like * and ? for partial matching.

COUNTIF function in excel is used to count the number of cells.

Syntax: COUNTIF ( range, criteria)

Arguments:
1. range:- Here ranges refers to the range of cells for which you want the cell count for
            a specific condition.
2. criteria:- Here criteria refers to the condition for which you want the cell count.

Return Value: COUNTIF function in excel returns an integer value of the number of cells
              which satisfy the given condition.

Example 1:

Consider the student’s marks which are given below for and XYZ examination.

Output:

Note: RED color cells are used for the reference that which cells would satisfy the given criteria. RED color doesn’t come in the output of COUNTIF.

Example 2:

Input	Output

Examples 3:

Some of the other examples are as follows for the COUNTIF function in excel.

We can find out that how many blank cells are there in the given range and also we can find out which are not blank cells in the given range.

• For finding number of Blank cells:   = COUNTIF ( D1:D10, “” )
• For finding a number of not Blank cells: = COUNTIF ( D1:D10, “<>”)

We can use the COUNTIF criteria using the value from another cell using concatenation. In the below example it COUNTIF function will return the value which is equal to the cell E5. Here & is used for the concatenation.

= COUNTIF ( D1:D10, "=" & E5)

We can use the COUNTIF function with the DATE function also for finding the dates less than or more than the given DATE. The below example shows how to use the COUNTIF function with the DATE function. It will return some dates that are greater than 1-Jan-2021.

= COUNTIF ( D1:D10, ">" & DATE( 2021, 1, 1) )

Some Points to be remembered:

• COUNTIF is not case sensitive.
• COUNTIF will only check one condition at a time.
• COUNTIF needs a range for the evaluation.
• In COUNTIF the criteria must be enclosed in the double-quotes.
• If the criteria are evaluated from a different cell then that cell must not be enclosed in the double-quotes. E.g. “=” & E5
• It gives an error if the matching string exceeds 255 characters.