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How to count the number of unique and distinct values from a list of column?

Author Xiaoyang Last modified

A screenshot of a list in Excel with duplicate values to count unique and distinct values from

Suppose you have a list of values with duplicates. You may want to count the number of unique values (values appearing only once) or distinct values (all unique values plus the first occurrence of duplicates) in a column, as shown in the screenshot. In this article, I will explain how to deal with this job in Excel.

Count the number of unique or distinct values from a list of column with array formulas

Count the number of unique or distinct values from a list of column with useful features

Count the number of unique or distinct values from a list of column with array formulas

Count The Number Of Unique Values From A List Of Column

To count only the unique values in a column, please apply the below formula:

1. Enter or copy the below array formula into a blank cell:

=SUM(IF(COUNTIF(A2:A12,A2:A12)=1,1,0))

Note: In the above formula, A2:A12 is the list of data that you want to count unique values.

2. Then, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together, all unique values which appear in the list only once has been counted as following screenshot shown:

A screenshot showing the result of counting unique values in an Excel list

Count the number of distinct values from a list of column

If you want to count the number of all unique values +1st duplicate values in a column, the below formula may help you.

1. Please enter or copy the below array formula into a blank cell:

=SUM(IF(A2:A12<>"",1/COUNTIF(A2:A12, A2:A12), 0))

Note: In the above formula, A2:A12 is the list of data that you want to count distinct values.

2. Then, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together, you will get the following result as you need:

A screenshot showing the result of counting distinct values in an Excel list

Count the number of unique or distinct values from a list of column with useful features

If you find it challenging to remember formulas, here is a powerful tool - Formula Helper of Kuttools for Excel. The Formula Helper collects dozens of common formulas which can save much time for you, and you don't need to remember the formulas any more. With its Cout unique values and Count cells with unique values (include the first duplicate value) features, you can get the number of unique and distinct values from a list quickly.

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1. Click a cell where you want to output the result. See screenshot:

A screenshot showing a selected cell in Excel where the count result will display

2. Then click Kutools > Formula Helper > Formula Helper, see screenshot:

A screenshot of the Formula Helper in Kutools menu in Excel

3. In the Formulas Helper dialog box, please do the following operations:

  • Select Statistical option from the Formula Type drop down list;
  • Then choose Count unique values or Count cells with unique values (include the duplicate value) from the Choose a fromula list box as you need;
  • In the right Arguments input section, select a list of cells that you want to count unique values.

A screenshot of the Formulas Helper dialog with options to count unique values

4. Then click Ok button, the unique or distinct values will be calculated as below screenshot shown:

A screenshot of the count result for unique and distinct values displayed in Excel cells

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More relative articles:

  • Count Unique Values Based On Another Column In Excel
  • It may be common for us to count unique values in only one column, but, in this article, I will talk about how to count unique values based on another column. For example, I have the following two columns data, now, I need count the unique names in column B based on the content of column A to get the following result.
  • Count Unique Values Between Two Dates In Excel
  • Have you ever confused with counting unique values between a date range in Excel? For instance, here are two columns, column ID includes some duplicates numbers, and column Date includes date series, and now I want to count the unique values between 8/2/2016 and 8/5/2016, how can you quickly solve it in Excel?
  • Count Unique Values In Pivot Table
  • By default, when we create a pivot table based on a range of data which contains some duplicate values, all the records will be counted as well, but, sometimes, we just want to count the unique values based on one column to get the right screenshot result. In this article, I will talk about how to count the unique values in pivot table.

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