Combine the COUNTIF and LEFT functions to count cells begin with a certain character in Excel
To count the number of cells which begin with a certain character in Excel, you can combine the COUNTIF and LEFT functions to get it done. Actually there are different kinds of formulas can achieve it. This tutorial will guide you step by step.
Use formulas to count cells begin with a certain character
An awesome feature to easily count cells begin with a certain character
Use formulas to count cells begin with a certain character
Supposing you have a text string list as below screenshot shown, now, to count number of cells that begin with the character “K”, please do as follows.
1. Select a blank cell, copy and paste the below formula into it and press the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys simultaneously to get the result.
=COUNT(IF(LEFT(A2:A6,1)="K",1,""))
Notes:
- 1) A2:A6 is the range contains the text string you will count; 1 means that you will count cells begins with one character; and “K” is the character you will count cells based on. Please change them as you need.
- 2) The below formulas can also help to get it down:
=COUNTIF(A2:A6,"K*")
=SUMPRODUCT(--(LEFT(A2:A6,1)="K"))
An awesome feature to easily count cells begin with a certain character
The Select Specific Cells utility of Kutools for Excel can help to easily count number of cells which begin with a certain character in Excel.
Before applying Kutools for Excel, please download and install it firstly.
1. Select the range of cells you will count, click Kutools > Select > Select Specific Cells. See screenshot:
2. In the opening Select Specific Cells dialog, you need to:
- 2.1) Select Cell in the Selection type section;
- 2.2) Choose Begins with from the Specific type drop-down list;
- 2.3) Enter the character you will count cells based on into the textbox;
- 2.4) Click OK.
3. Then another Select Specific Cells dialog pops up to tell you how many cells in selected range are beginning with “K”, and at the same time, all qualified cells are selected automatically. Click OK to close the dialog.
If you want to have a free trial (30-day) of this utility, please click to download it, and then go to apply the operation according above steps.
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