How to count the number of commas/dashes separated values in a cell in Excel?

For example you have a cell containing many commas in Excel, how could you easily count the total number of all commas in this cell? This article provides two methods to solve it quickly!

Count the number of commas/dashes in a cell with formula

Count the number of commas/dashes in a cell with Kutools for Excel’s formula

Easily count the comma separated values in a single cell in Excel

Kutools for Excel collects some commonly-used formulas to help Excel users quickly apply formulas without remembering them exactly, for example the Count times a word appears formula, which can help you quickly count any word or text string in a single cell/column. Full Feature Free Trial 60-day!

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Count the number of commas/dashes in a cell with formula

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This method will introduce a formula to quickly count the total number of all commas or dashes in one cell in Excel. Please do as follows:

Select the cell you will place the counting result, type the formula =LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,",","")) (A2 is the cell where you will count the commas) into it, and then drag this cell’s AutoFill Handle to the range as you need. See screenshot:

Note: For counting the number of dashes, please replace the commas with the dashes in the formulas as =LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"-","")).

Count the number of commas/dashes in a cell with Kutools for Excel’s formula

Sometimes, you may be not able to remember the formula exactly. Here we recommend the Count times a word appears formula of Kutools for Excel, which can help you quickly count a character or a word in a cell easily. Please do as follows:

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1. Select a blank cell you will place the counting result into, and click Kutools > Formulas > Count times a word appears. See screenshot:

2. In the opening Formula Helper dialog box, please specify the cell where you will count the commas/dashes in the Text box, type the “,” or “-” into the Word box, and click the OK button. See screenshot:

And then the total number of commas/dashes in the specified cell has been counted and returned into the selected cell. If necessary, please drag this cell’s AutoFill Handle to the range as you need. See screenshot:

Note: This Count times a word appears formula is also able to count the specified character or word in a range. See below screenshot:

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Demo: Count the number of commas/dashes in a cell/range

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Select and count cells if contain certain text sting in Excel

Kutools for Excel’s Select SpecifiC Cells feature can help us to quickly select all cells which contain, begin with, end with, or equal to the certain text string in the specified range. Simultaneously, a dialog box will come out and show us how many cells have been selected. Full Feature Free Trial 60-day!

Count specific characters (comma/semicolon/question marks) in cell/range in Excel

Remove all punctuation marks (comma, quotation, apostrophe) from cells

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