Microsoft Excel COUNTIF Function Help

COUNTIF Function Examples

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COUNTIF Function Description

Counts the number of cells within a designated range that meet a specific criteria.

COUNTIF Function Syntax

=COUNTIF(range,criteria)

COUNTIF Function Argument Descriptions

range:  This is the range whose elements you wish to count. Can be a single column, row or a multi column/row range.

criteria:  This is the criteria to apply against the designated range It can be in the form of a number, formula, cell reference, or text that defines the cells to be counted. For example, criteria can be expressed as 32, "32", ">32", "apples", or B4.

COUNTIF Function Tips

• For the criteria, you can use the wildcard characters like a question mark (?) or an asterisk (*). A question mark matches any single character; an asterisk matches any sequence of characters. If you want to find an actual question mark or asterisk, type a tilde (~) before the character.
• Use the COUNTIF function to detect the presence of a value in a column before using VLOOKUP or MATCH. You can use it as part of the logic argument for the IF Function.