How to count if not in excel

To count numbers or dates that meet a single condition (such as equal to, greater than, less than, greater than or equal to, or less than or equal to), use the COUNTIF function. To count numbers or dates that fall within a range (such as greater than 9000 and at the same time less than 22500), you can use the COUNTIFS function. Alternately, you can use SUMPRODUCT too.

Example

Note: You’ll need to adjust these cell formula references outlined here based on where and how you copy these examples into the Excel sheet.

1	A	B
2	Salesperson	Invoice
3	Buchanan	15,000
4	Buchanan	9,000
5	Suyama	8,000
6	Suyma	20,000
7	Buchanan	5,000
8	Dodsworth	22,500
9	Formula	Description (Result)
10	=COUNTIF(B2:B7,»>9000″)	The COUNTIF function counts the number of cells in the range B2:B7 that contain numbers greater than 9000 (4)
11	=COUNTIF(B2:B7,»<=9000″)	The COUNTIF function counts the number of cells in the range B2:B7 that contain numbers less than 9000 (4)
12	=COUNTIFS(B2:B7,»>=9000″,B2:B7,»<=22500″)	The COUNTIFS function (available in Excel 2007 and later) counts the number of cells in the range B2:B7 greater than or equal to 9000 and are less than or equal to 22500 (4)
13	=SUMPRODUCT((B2:B7>=9000)*(B2:B7<=22500))	The SUMPRODUCT function counts the number of cells in the range B2:B7 that contain numbers greater than or equal to 9000 and less than or equal to 22500 (4). You can use this function in Excel 2003 and earlier, where COUNTIFS is not available.
14	Date
15	3/11/2011
16	1/1/2010
17	12/31/2010
18	6/30/2010
19	Formula	Description (Result)
20	=COUNTIF(B14:B17,»>3/1/2010″)	Counts the number of cells in the range B14:B17 with a data greater than 3/1/2010 (3)
21	=COUNTIF(B14:B17,»12/31/2010″)	Counts the number of cells in the range B14:B17 equal to 12/31/2010 (1). The equal sign is not needed in the criteria, so it is not included here (the formula will work with an equal sign if you do include it («=12/31/2010»).
22	=COUNTIFS(B14:B17,»>=1/1/2010″,B14:B17,»<=12/31/2010″)	Counts the number of cells in the range B14:B17 that are between (inclusive) 1/1/2010 and 12/31/2010 (3).
23	=SUMPRODUCT((B14:B17>=DATEVALUE(«1/1/2010»))*(B14:B17<=DATEVALUE(«12/31/2010»)))	Counts the number of cells in the range B14:B17 that are between (inclusive) 1/1/2010 and 12/31/2010 (3). This example serves as a substitute for the COUNTIFS function that was introduced in Excel 2007. The DATEVALUE function converts the dates to a numeric value, which the SUMPRODUCT function can then work with.

In this example, the goal is to count cells that do not contain a specific substring. This problem can be solved with the COUNTIF function or the SUMPRODUCT function. Both approaches are explained below. Although COUNTIF is not case-sensitive, the SUMPRODUCT version of the formula can be adapted to perform a case-sensitive count. For convenience, data is the named range B5:B15.

COUNTIF function

The COUNTIF function counts cells in a range that meet supplied criteria. For example, to count the number of cells in a range that contain «apple» you can use COUNTIF like this:

=COUNTIF(range,"apple") // equal to "apple"

Note this is an exact match. To be included in the count, a cell must contain «apple» and only «apple». If a cell contains any other characters, it will not be counted. To reverse this operation and count cells that do not contain «apple», you can add the not equal to (<>) operator like this:

=COUNTIF(range,"<>apple") // not equal to "apple"

The goal in this example is to count cells that do not contain specific text, where the text is a substring that can be anywhere in the cell. To do this, we need to use the asterisk (*) character as a wildcard. To count cells that contain the substring «apple», we can use a formula like this:

=COUNTIF(range,"*apple*") // contains "apple"

The asterisk (*) wildcard matches zero or more characters of any kind, so this formula will count cells that contain «apple» anywhere in the cell. To count cells that do not contain the substring «apple», we add the not equal to (<>) operator like this:

=COUNTIF(range,"<>*apple*") // does not contain "apple"

The formulas used in the worksheet shown follow the same pattern:

=COUNTIF(data,"<>*a*") // does not contain "a"
=COUNTIF(data,"<>*0*") // does not contain "0"
=COUNTIF(data,"<>*-r*") // does not contain "-r"

Data is the named range B5:B15. The COUNTIF function supports three different wildcards, see this page for more details.

Note the COUNTIF formula above won’t work if you are targeting a particular number and cells contain numeric data. This is because the wildcard automatically causes COUNTIF to look for text only (i.e. to look for «2» instead of just 2). In addition, COUNTIF is not case-sensitive, so you can’t perform a case-sensitive count. The SUMPRODUCT alternative explained below can handle both situations.

With a cell reference

You can easily adjust this formula to use a cell reference in criteria. For example, if A1 contains the substring you want to exclude from the count, you can use a formula like this:

=COUNTIF(range,"<>*"&A1&"*")

Inside COUNTIF, the two asterisks and the not equal to operator (<>) are concatenated to the value in A1, and the formula works as before.

Exclude blanks

To exclude blank cells, you can switch to COUNTIFS  function and add another condition like this:

=COUNTIFS(range,"<>*a*",range,"?*") // requires some text

The second condition means «at least one character».

See also: 50 examples of formula criteria

SUMPRODUCT function

Another way to solve this problem is with the SUMPRODUCT function and Boolean algebra. This approach has the benefit of being case-sensitive if needed. In addition, you can use this technique to target a number inside of a number, something you can’t do with COUNTIF.

To count cells that contain specific text with SUMPRODUCT, you can use the SEARCH function. SEARCH returns the position of text in a text string as a number. For example, the formula below returns 6 since the «a» appears first as the sixth character in the string:

=SEARCH( "a","The cat sat") // returns 6

If the text is not found, SEARCH returns a #VALUE! error:

=SEARCH( "x","The cat sat") // returns #VALUE!

Notice we do not need to use any wildcards because SEARCH will automatically find substrings. If we get a number from SEARCH, we know the substring was found. If we get an error, we know the substring was not found. This means we can add the ISNUMBER function to evaluate the result from SEARCH like this:

=ISNUMBER(SEARCH( "a","The cat sat")) // returns TRUE
=ISNUMBER(SEARCH( "x","The cat sat")) // returns FALSE

To reverse the operation, we add the NOT function:

=NOT(ISNUMBER(SEARCH( "a","The cat sat"))) // FALSE
=NOT(ISNUMBER(SEARCH( "x","The cat sat"))) // TRUE

We now have what we need to count cells that do not contain a substring with SUMPRODUCT. Back in the example worksheet, to count cells that do not contain «a» with SUMPRODUCT, you can use a formula like this

=SUMPRODUCT(--NOT(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("a",data))))

Working from the inside out, SEARCH is configured to look for «a»:

SEARCH("a",data)

Because data (B5:B15) contains 11 cells, the result from SEARCH is an array with 11 results:

{1;1;1;1;2;2;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!}

In this array, numbers indicate the position of «a» in cells where «a» is found. The #VALUE! errors indicate cells where «a» was not found. To convert these results into a simple array of TRUE and FALSE values, we use the ISNUMBER function:

ISNUMBER(SEARCH("a",data))

ISNUMBER returns TRUE for any number and FALSE for errors. SEARCH delivers the array of results to ISNUMBER, and ISNUMBER converts the results to an array that contains only TRUE and FALSE values:

{TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE}

In this array, TRUE corresponds to cells that contain «a» and FALSE corresponds to cells that do not contain «a». This is exactly the opposite of what we need, so we use the  NOT function to reverse the array:

NOT(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("a",data)))

The result from the  NOT function is:

{FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE}

In this array, the TRUE values represent cells we want to count. However, we first need to convert the TRUE and FALSE values to their numeric equivalents, 1 and 0. To do this, we use a double negative (—):

--NOT(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("a",data)))

The result inside of SUMPRODUCT looks like this:

=SUMPRODUCT({0;0;0;0;0;0;1;1;1;1;1}) // returns 5

With a single array to process, SUMPRODUCT sums the array and returns 5 as a final result.

One benefit of this formula is it will find a number inside a numeric value. In addition, there is no need to use wildcards to indicate position, because SEARCH will automatically look through all text in a cell.

Case-sensitive option

For a case-sensitive count, you can replace the SEARCH function with the FIND function like this:

=SUMPRODUCT(--NOT(ISNUMBER(FIND("A",data))))

The FIND function works just like the SEARCH function, but is case-sensitive. Notice we have replaced «a» with «A» because FIND is case-sensitive. If we used «a», the result would be 11 since there are no cells in B5:B15 that contain a lowercase «a». This example provides more detail.

Note: the SUMPRODUCT formulas above are more complex, but using Boolean operations in array formulas is a more powerful and flexible approach. It is also an important skill in modern functions like FILTER and XLOOKUP, which often use this technique to select the right data. The syntax used by COUNTIF is unique to a group of eight functions and is therefore not as useful or portable.

In this article, we will learn about how to Count cells that do not contain value using COUNTIF function with wildcards in Excel.
In simple words, Consider a scenario in which we are required to count the data based on specific criteria in an array. counting cells that do not contain a specific value using wildcards to catch cell value with countif function in excel explained here with an example.
The COUNTIF function returns the count of cells that do not a specific value.
Syntax:

Range : array
Value : text in quotes and numbers without quotes.
<> : operator (not equal to)
Wildcard characters for catching strings and perform functions on it.
There are three wildcard characters in Excel

1. Question mark ( ? ) : This wildcard is used to search for any single character.
2. Asterisk ( * ): This wildcard is used to find any number of characters preceding or following any character.
3. Tilde ( ~ ): This wildcard is an escape character, used preceding the question mark ( ? ) or asterisk mark( * ).

Let’s understand this function using it in an example.

There are different shades of colours in the array. We need to find the colours which do not have red.
Use the formula:

A2:A13 : array
<>*red* : condition where cells that don’t contain red in the cell value.

The red region marked are the 6 cells which do not contain red colour.
Now we will get the colours which do not have Blue
Use the formula:

There are 9 cells which do not have Blue.
Now we will get the colours which do not have Purple
Use the formula:

=COUNTIF(A2:A13,»<>*Purple*»)

As you can see the formula returns the count of cells which do not have a specific value.
Hope you understood how to use Indirect function and referring cell in Excel. Explore more articles on Excel function here. Please feel free to state your query or feedback for the above article.

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How to Count Occurrences of a Word in an Excel Range in Excel

Get the COUNTIFS with Dynamic Criteria Range in Excel

How to Count total matches in two ranges in Excel

How to Count Unique Values In Excel

How To Count Unique Text in Excel

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