Countif wildcard not working. What I'm looking for is a formula to count partial matches within columns A & C against an exact match in column B. The IF() function, for example, doesn't directly accept wildcards, requiring workarounds like combining it with COUNTIF() as demonstrated earlier. Sep 9, 2015 · I was using COUNTIF to find certain data and it was working fine in all cells I wanted it to. Aug 31, 2011 · And no, it's not an expletive. Formula examples for exact match, partial match and filtered cells. As we have only Motor Bike in our dataset, the COUNTIFS function won’t work properly and will return 0. g. with the following contrived table: I want to have a dropdown menu using Data Validation that allows the user to select 1, 2, 3, or * (wildcard). In the example shown, the formula in D5 is: Nov 3, 2006 · My hope is that I can use that countifs statement, but somehow pull the text from a cell reference like A1 and wrap it in wildcards so I can drag the formula down my large set of data without having to reference each company like *polycom* to get this working. However, you can use the COUNTIF or COUNTIFS functions inside the logical test of IF for basic wildcard functionality. Jun 21, 2024 · Issue 6 – Using Wildcards When COUNTIFS Not Working We have inserted Bike as the criteria in our formula: =COUNTIFS(E5:E12,"Bike"). Then I deleted a row in my data, the formulas automatically updated but one of the calculation columns stopped worked, reset to 0. The COUNTIF function can now search for partial matches in the criteria range. I’d like to know if there is another way to do that. A Primer Wildcards are powerful tools in Excel that allow users to perform flexible searches and calculations. This tip looks at why this occurs and suggests ways to deal with the wrong results. Here's my situation: I have two columns. Formula examples to count blank and non-blank cells, with values greater than, less than or equal to the number you specify, duplicates or unique, or based on another cell values, COUNTIF formulas with multiple conditions. Re: I Might need a COUNTIF work around Yes, Although in the cells it will not say Line A1 it will just be the numbers. Dec 28, 2024 · The COUNTIF function can be very handy when searching a range of cells for values. I get different behaviours depending on the implementation. Aug 22, 2023 · Countif Wildcards (Asterisks Or Question Marks) Here, we can complete the task directly using the formula. Wildcards are supported in LibreOffice Calc and in Microsoft Excel. You could simply use a wildcard (an asterisk, *, is a wildcard in Excel) in your COUNTIF formula like this: =COUNTIF(A5:A9,"*apples*") Your result will be 4. Use the following formula: Jun 2, 2023 · This tutorial explains how to use a wildcard in the COUNTIF function in Excel, including several examples. Below the formula is working for one criteria. Jun 14, 2016 · From the Microsoft page on COUNTIF: Make sure your data doesn't contain erroneous characters. Jul 27, 2015 · I was able to insert wildcards for the COUNTIF formula that searched for categories on one date only: Code: Feb 27, 2020 · I'm doing a COUNTIFS where I append a wildcard to the string to match. The formula I’d like to do is: COUNTIF(A1:A5;“A*”). The wildard “*” character represents any count of characters. Oct 13, 2025 · Learn why your COUNTIFS formula isn’t working in Excel and how to fix common issues like range mismatches, text criteria, and wildcards. Mar 14, 2023 · Everything you need to know about wildcards: what wildcard characters Excel recognizes, and how to best use them with built-in features and in formulas with text and numbers. In this article, we will highlight some of the possible reasons for this and the solutions to fix those issues. Learn how to fix COUNTIF issues and improve your spreadsheet efficiency. In some instances, though, it can provide erroneous results. the column B. Tom’s Tutorials For Excel: COUNTIF and SUMIF with wildcards You can use wildcard characters with functions to return specific information. Aug 22, 2023 · The tutorial explains how to use COUNTIFS and COUNTIF formulas with multiple criteria in Excel based on AND as well as OR logic. The result is 5 since five cells in B5:B15 do not contain the letter "a". g A. Using COUNTIF with wildcards in Google Sheets allows you to count cells based on partial matches or specific patterns. When counting text values, make sure the data doesn't contain leading spaces, trailing spaces, inconsistent use of straight and curly quotation marks, or nonprinting characters. In Excel this is working for me but not in Power BI {"combi", "test"} Formula: Nov 13, 2023 · The added touch is, however, having to use a wildcard character to match zero or more characters. It would return the number of occurences in this range that a word would start with an A. In the coming sections, we'll show you how to use the wildcard characters (the asterisk and question mark) within the COUNTIF function to check if a cell contains certain text. In these cases, COUNTIF might return an unexpected value. If the value in a cell of column B <> 1 the value is not unique. In this tutorial we will look at the correct way to use wildcard syntax in Excel’s COUNTIFS and SUMIFS function. 0 Can Excel COUNTIFS function use a wildcard to match numeric data? E. Jul 9, 2013 · The test condition in Excel's COUNTIF is not a regular expression, or similar. For more about using wildcard characters with the Find and Replace features in Excel, see Find or replace text and numbers on a worksheet. Jul 22, 2004 · I swear I've done this a hundred times before, but all of a sudden I'm sideways. The difference is that the SEARCH function supports wildcards but is not case-sensitive, while the FIND function is case-sensitive but does not support Use wildcard characters as comparison criteria for text filters and when you're searching and replacing content. I have written the function as the following: =COUNTIF (A1:A7000, "=????????01????") and all that this returns is the number 0. I validated the function by trying it on a text string and it worked. Jan 15, 2026 · Learn what the Excel VBA CountIf function does, how to write it in your code, and find out some examples of its use. Column B has the first match up, purely based on text. Goal: To be able to have a formula where I can make it link to a cell containing a text string and it would find all occurances anywhere any given cell within an array. Dec 19, 2019 · To search multiple worksheets in a workbook for a value and return a count, you can use a formula based on the COUNTIF and INDIRECT functions. Therefore, if interoperability between both applications is needed, choose to work with wildcards instead of regular expressions. Aug 30, 2018 · I want to check the uniqueness of the contents of all cells in a column; e. Aug 17, 2022 · To count cells that contain certain text, you can use the COUNTIF function with a wildcard. Jan 11, 2022 · Power Query does not natively support wildcards. Master asterisk, question mark & tilde wildcards for efficient lookups. Say you wanted to write a formula that returns "Yes" if the name in the cell starts with "Amy" and "No" if it does not. May 11, 2023 · Then, it performs the partial match lookup on those columns using the COUNTIF function and the wildcard match. For example the column could look like this: a,1 1 1 b,1 b a What I want to do is count all the times that 1 shows up. For example, the wildcard “?” character represents any single character. The tutorial assumes you have a working knowledge of both functions. How to use the COUNTIFS function in Excel to apply criteria to cells, across multiple ranges, and count the number of times all criteria are met. Learn how to use wildcard characters in Excel to save time when working with formulas. EndsWith ( "MyText", "xt" ) resembles SQL's WHERE x = '%xt' Once you get to more trickier ones like wildcard characters you will need to write custom Jun 2, 2023 · This tutorial explains how to use a wildcard in the COUNTIF function in Excel, including several examples. Jun 10, 2016 · Hi all, I’m trying to employ wildcards in formulas in Calc as one can do in Excel but I’ve not been successful. I understand that this can also be achieved using a Pivot Table, but am trying to keep things simple if there is a way to make this work. In the example shown, the formula in E5 is: =COUNTIF(B5:B15,"*a*") The result is 6, since there are six cells in B5:B15 that contain the letter "a". Jun 8, 2025 · The COUNTIF function supports logical operators (>,<,<>,=) and wildcards (*,?) for partial matching. All I want to know is how many work orders Nov 11, 2025 · In this article, the solution of Excel sumif wildcard not working is provided. Wildcard not working in my COUNTIFS I'm trying to count the number of cells in a column matching a couple different sets of criterion. The two wildcard characters available in Google Sheets are: I'm trying to tell excel to count the entries that contain "Georgia Medical Center". First, the field value: [@[My Field]] = "Lastname, Firstname" U Mar 14, 2023 · The tutorial shows how to make Excel IF statement with wildcard text and get it to work for partial matches. These functions can check if a cell’s value matches a wildcard pattern and return a numerical result. Power BI - Wildcard - count partial match with multiple criteria Hi, I am looking for a way to count partial match with multiple criteria. In Excel Spreadsheet Formulas Finding Concealed Data In Cells sumifs with wildcard not working sumifs with multiple criteria in same column advanced sumifs function in excel sumifs formula Excel Mar 14, 2023 · The tutorial shows how to count the number of cells with specific text in Excel. You will get the total number of sold Computers which is the return of the COUNTIF function. Mar 22, 2023 · Learn the basics of COUNTIF function in Excel. Using wildcards in the criteria makes the formula more dynamic. Download our workbook, modify data and practice yourself. Jul 13, 2024 · Learn how to use wildcards with XLOOKUP in Excel for powerful, flexible data searches. Conversely, if interoperability is not necessary, consider using regular expressions for more powerful search capabilities. You will find a number of examples for different data types – numbers, dates, text, wildcard characters, non-blank cells and more. Aug 14, 2017 · Unfortunately I'm having some difficulty getting that to work. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Wildcard with IF Statement Example The IF function in Excel does not natively support wildcard matching, but we can work around this by combining it with the COUNTIF function (see COUNTIF example above). Does the COUNTIF function with wildcard characters not work with numbers? Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer. Mar 13, 2025 · Learn how to count cells containing text, numbers, errors, blanks, and more using advanced formulas and techniques. Dec 2, 2024 · Solution This situation can be solved by using wildcards with the COUNTIF function. Column F is a date/time in the format #/##/#### ##:##". Column 1 has names in it, Column 2 has dates (in this very format, no spaces between the characters). Learn to count substrings, patterns, wildcard text, and apply COUNTIFS for advanced cases. Therefor I copied the following formula =COUNTIF (A:A,A2) to all cells in e. They would work just fine if all cells contained text, instead of numbers in cells with just 98. I've tried using this formula with wildcard references but it isn't working: Using Wildcards * & ? in Excel SUMIFS and COUNTIFS Functions Using Wildcards * & ? in Excel SUMIFS and COUNTIFS Functions This tutorial explores the use of the wildcard characters * and ?, both of which can be used within the criteria arguments of the COUNTIFS and SUMIFS function. StartsWith ( "MyText", "My" ) resembles SQL's WHERE x = 'My%' Text. 8. It works good in Excel and in Google Spreadsheets, but it’s not working in May 24, 2023 · Learning which Google Sheets Wildcard to use and when can seem daunting, but this guide makes it simple. That count returned a 0 so I'm back to the drawing board. In the example shown, the formula in E5 is: =COUNTIF(data,"<>*a*") In this formula, data is the named range B5:B15. For example, the number of cells that the HR department appears in. I probably have to use some wildcard functions but i am unsure on how to input them for an array formula. Nov 3, 2005 · I've got a column of letters and numbers that I want to count. Nov 27, 2025 · Learn how to effectively use the COUNTIF function with wildcards in Excel through seven practical methods. What I have is a list of calendar dates (MM/DD/YY) from 2010 through 2015, which is a total of about 45,000 entries (work orders), with corresponding dates of creation. For example: Jan 15, 2015 · Because to me your question says you want to count all cells that do NOT match the wildcard string rather than count all cells that do not contain the actual ? or * characters. So let us see a simple process to learn how you can count wildcards (asterisks or question marks) in Excel. Read More: [Fixed] COUNTIF Function with Wildcard Not Working in Excel Feb 10, 2025 · To count cells that do not contain certain text, you can use the COUNTIF function with a wildcard. My data in column A contains Excel wildcards like "?X" or "Y*". Here, I will show you how to use wildcards in Excel. After the fact, select A1:A10, and click Data > Text To Columns. Feb 12, 2025 · In this example, the goal is to test a value in a cell to see if it contains a specific substring. Nov 9, 2022 · Help Center Community Gemini in Docs Editors Google Docs Editors Privacy Policy Terms of Service Community Policy Community Overview This help content & information Sep 15, 2025 · Master Excel COUNTIF for partial matches. Everything was fine. . May 30, 2025 · Not all Excel functions support wildcard functionality, which can create confusion when you expect certain formulas to work with pattern matching. Formula errors. Enhance your productivity with these step-by-step techniques. Finally, to identify which of the lines in the extracted columns match the data in C29, you could use another FILTER function combined with the INDEX and MATCH functions. Using precise syntax can resolve common issues and make COUNTIF with wildcards work smoothly. Here's a simple example of my formula that resides in {Column B}: =IF (A2="*McCaleb",TRUE,FALSE) Here's my array: {Column A} {Column B} Justin McCaleb FALSE Daniel McCaleb FALSE Tori McCaleb FALSE Jeff McCaleb FALSE Renee McCaleb FALSE Chuck Lodge FALSE Marlene Lodge FALSE May 24, 2023 · Learning which Google Sheets Wildcard to use and when can seem daunting, but this guide makes it simple. Let’s start with an example. It only counts 1 when it is with another letter. Nov 9, 2022 · Help Center Community Gemini in Docs Editors Google Docs Editors Privacy Policy Terms of Service Community Policy Community Overview This help content & information Nov 9, 2022 · Emma wrote: The wildcards don't account for a cell that doesn't have anything before or after the number. May 18, 2023 · IF + COUNTIF Unlike several other frequently used functions, the IF function does not support wildcards. 5. Aug 7, 2024 · Learn how to count the number of wildcards like asterisks and question marks in Excel. In the following example, we used the asterisk character (*) in the criteria, resulting in the correct number of 4 products. Jul 8, 2010 · I believe that countif allows wildcard characters, but maybe I am wrong. These can also be used in the Conditional Formatting rules that use the "Only format cells that contain specific text" criteria. Jul 15, 2024 · While working in Excel sheets, sometimes you need to use wildcards for many purposes. As you've discovered, SUBSTITUTE does not support wildcards. Oct 16, 2023 · Re: Countifs with Wildcards Will the letter always be the first character as in the sample data, or is the sample data not fully representative? Apr 9, 2025 · 2. Mar 4, 2022 · This tutorial explains how to use COUNTIF with wildcard characters in Google Sheets, including examples. Jun 17, 2024 · Press Enter. Unfortunately, sometimes it may seem that the Excel COUNTIF formula with wildcard is not working as expected. Jan 16, 2017 · Using Wildcards in CountIf Hi All I have recently started using CountIf and was wondering how I could use the wildcard characters to find the number of people who's surname whose 3rd letter begins with a "n". Also, the workbook is free for your personal use only. To verify I opened a new workbook, entered today's date in cell C1 and typed "08/15/2017 EAS - PROCESSED ORDER" in cell C2 then tried the formula below (=COUNTIF (C2, TEXT (C1, "mm/dd/yyyy")&"*EAS - PROCESSED ORDER*"). The supported functions can be found here: Excel Wildcard | Exceljet In your case, there are no natural line breaks in the cell, it's just one long string of text that uses "LI x:" to indicate when a new line should begin? One work around would be to use the Find and Replace. For instance: Text. Aug 6, 2024 · 7 easy helpful ways to use countif wildcard in Excel. I've tried using this formula with wildcard references but it isn't working: Mar 26, 2019 · To work around this limitation, you need to combine the IF function with other functions that handle wildcards, such as COUNTIF or SEARCH. Nov 11, 2025 · Here, you will find solutions when the Excel COUNTIF function is not working for the string "True" by adding double quotations, wildcards etc. There are some alternative routes you could take, though. With COUNTIF, you can do a wildcard search by using * (asterisk). Properly configured, COUNTIF with wildcards can efficiently count cells matching patterns, resolving common frustrations in data analysis. May 16, 2013 · I believe that part of my problem is when I make the criteria in the countif dynamic, I lose the ability to put the wildcard characters. The tricky part about using the COUNTIF function is the syntax needed to apply criteria. Follow our step-by-step guide for accurate results. They are particularly useful when combined with functions like COUNTIF, which is designed to count cells that meet a certain criterion. Mar 13, 2025 · The Excel COUNTIF function counts the number of cells in a range that meet a specific condition, such as matching text, numbers, dates, or wildcard characters. Master pattern matching, count specific text, and streamline your data analysis by leveraging wildcards like “*” and “?”. Perfect for data filtering, analysis, and creating dynamic reports. Excel contains two functions designed to check the occurrence of one text string inside another: the SEARCH function and the FIND function. Jul 3, 2024 · What to Do If SUMIFS Function with Wildcard Is Not Working in Excel Steps: Insert the following formula. Nov 11, 2025 · The COUNTIF function is used extensively to count values based on criteria. Jul 8, 2023 · You can create elaborated conditions with the function SUMIFS or COUNTIFS with wildcard or greater and lower test. Oct 13, 2025 · Learn how to fix Excel COUNTIF returning 0 with tips on quotes, wildcards, OR/AND logic, and using COUNTIFS for multiple conditions. Aug 17, 2022 · The COUNTIF function in Excel allows you to only count the number of cells that meet certain criteria. With some preliminary setup, you can use this approach to search an entire workbook for a specific value. When I try to use formula =COUNTIF (I508:I512,"=*1*") It doesn't count the instances where 1 is all by itself. I had to change the format for the wildcard as I was told it was different to Excel. The return is 3. It takes the form of " [conditional operator] [value]". Learn how to use the COUNTIF function in Excel for partial matching, including wildcard characters, with helpful examples and explanations. Oct 27, 2021 · Help Center Community Gemini in Docs Editors Google Docs Editors Privacy Policy Terms of Service Community Policy Community Overview This help content & information Jan 9, 2005 · I'm having trouble getting the "*" wildcard to work in my IF statement. May 12, 2024 · Wildcards and double-counting COUNTIF and COUNTIFS support wildcards, but you need to be careful not to double-count when you have multiple "contains" conditions with OR logic. Example: 7/1/2014 0:00. In the first dialog box, select Delimited, then click Next. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Wildcards expand the capabilities of COUNTIF, enabling it to count cells not just based on exact matches, but also on partial matches, patterns Nov 20, 2025 · Struggling with COUNTIF not recognizing wildcards in Excel? Ensure the wildcard characters (*, ?) are correctly used within quotes, and that your criteria match the intended pattern. Using Wildcards – *, ? and ~ within COUNTIFS and SUMIFS Functions Wildcards are useful when you want to specify partial criteria such as “begins with”, “ends with” or “contains”. Alphabetical [value]'s (for English, at least) are tested by default in case-insensitive alphabetical order. I thought about using LEFT and RIGHT formulas, but the string will be different for every hospital in the data set. COUNTIF using Wildcards What say you wanted to count the number of cells containing the word ‘apple’ in this table. Encountering issues with COUNTIF and wildcards in Excel? Ensure your syntax is correct—use asterisks (*) for partial matches and double quotes around criteria. Oct 16, 2025 · This is an Excel COUNTIF troubleshooting guide in 2023. Mar 25, 2024 · Wildcard characters not working in COUNTIFS function Hi y'all, this was a real brain scratcher for me, I gave up and went to the internet looking for answers. dgu bsuq zollknhmx cghyteg dzuux chhyb jvh bejr hmytec sjugxqt