Skip to main content

Excel Formula: Check if cell contains some texts but not contains others

To check if a cell contains some texts in range A but does not contain the texts in range B, you can use an array formula which combines the COUNT, SEARCH and AND function in Excel. Here this tutorial explains how to use this array formula.
doc check if contains some but not others 1

Generic formula:

=AND(COUNT(SEARCH(include,text))>0,COUNT(SEARCH(exclude,text))=0)

Arguments

Text: the text string you want to check.
Include: the values you want to check if argument text contains.
Exclude: the values you want to check if argument text does not contain.

Return value:

This formula returns logical value. If the cell contains at least one of argument Include but does not contain any one of argument Exclude, it will return TRUE, or it will return FALSE.

How this formula work

Supposing you want to check if the cell B3 contains one of values in range E3:E5, but at the same time, it does not contain anyone values in range F3:F4, please use below formula

=AND(COUNT(SEARCH($E$3:$E$5,B3))>0,COUNT(SEARCH($F$3:$F$4,B3))=0)

Press Shift + Ctrl + Enter key to check the cell.
doc check if contains some but not others 2

Explanation

Part 1: ( COUNT(SEARCH($E$3:$E$5,B3))>0 check if cell B3 contains one of values in range E3:E5

SEARCH function: the SEARCH function returns the position of the first character of the text string inside another, if the SEARCH function finds the matched text, it returns the relative position, if not, it returns #VALUE! error. Here, the formula SEARCH($E$3:$E$5,B3) will search each value in the range E3:E5 in cell B3, and return the location of each text string in the cell B3. It will return an array result as this: {1;7;#VALUE!}.

COUNT function: the COUNT function counts the number of items in a range or an array. COUNT(SEARCH($E$3:$E$5,B3)) returns 2 as the number of items in the array {1;7;#VALUE!} is two.

COUNT(SEARCH($E$3:$E$5,B3))>0, compare the result of COUNT function and zero, as long as the result of COUNT function is greater than 0, the result will return TRUE, or it will return FALSE. Here it returns TRUE.
doc check if contains some but not others 3

Part 2: COUNT(SEARCH($F$3:$F$4,B3))=0 check if cell B3 does not contain one of values in range F3:F4

SEARCH function: the SEARCH function returns the position of the first character of the text string inside another, if the SEARCH function finds the matched text, it returns the relative position; if not, it returns #VALUE! error. Here, the formula SEARCH($F$3:$F$4,B3) will search each value of the range F3:F4 in cell B3, and returns the location of each text string in the cell B3. It will return an array result as this: {#VALUE!; #VALUE!;#VALUE!}.

COUNT function: the COUNT function counts the number of items in a range or an array. COUNT(SEARCH($F$3:$F$4,B3)) returns 0 as there are no items in the array {#VALUE!; #VALUE!;#VALUE!} .

COUNT(SEARCH($F$3:$F$4,B3))>0, compare the result of COUNT function and zero, as long as the result of COUNT function is equal to 0, it will return TRUE, or it will return FALSE. Here it returns TRUE.
doc check if contains some but not others 4

Part 3: AND function

=AND(COUNT(SEARCH($E$3:$E$5,B3))>0,COUNT(SEARCH($F$3:$F$4,B3))=0)

=AND(TRUE,TRUE)

=TRUE

Sample File

doc sampleClick to download sample file


Relative Formulas

  • Check if a cell contains a specific text
    To check if a cell contains some texts in range A but does not contain the texts in range B, you can use an array formula which combines the COUNT, SEARCH and AND function in Excel
  • Check if a cell contains one of several values but exclude other values
    This tutorial will provide a formula to quickly handle the task that check if a cell contains one of things but excluding other values in Excel and explain the arguments of the formula.
  • Check if cell contains one of things
    Supposing in Excel, there is a list of values in column E, you want to check if the cells in column B contain all of the values in column E, and return TRUE or FALSE.
  • Check if cell contains number
    Sometimes, you may want to check if a cell contains numeric characters. This tutorial provides a formula which will return TRUE if the cell contains number, FALSE if cell does not contain number.

The Best Office Productivity Tools

Kutools for Excel - Helps You To Stand Out From Crowd

🤖 Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functions…
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates  |  Delete Blank Rows  |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data  |  Round without Formula ...
Super VLookup: Multiple Criteria  |  Multiple Value  |  Across Multi-Sheets  |  Fuzzy Lookup...
Adv. Drop-down List: Easy Drop Down List  |  Dependent Drop Down List  |  Multi-select Drop Down List...
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  Compare Columns to Select Same & Different Cells ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus  |  Design View  |  Big Formula Bar  |  Workbook & Sheet Manager | Resource Library (Auto Text)  |  Date Picker  |  Combine Worksheets  |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells  |  Send Emails by List  |  Super Filter  |  Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters ...)  |  50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart ...)  |  40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday ...)  |  19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path ...)  |  12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion ...)  |  7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Excel Cells ...)  |  ... and more

Kutools for Excel Boasts Over 300 Features, Ensuring That What You Need is Just A Click Away...

Description


Office Tab - Enable Tabbed Reading and Editing in Microsoft Office (include Excel)

  • One second to switch between dozens of open documents!
  • Reduce hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day, say goodbye to mouse hand.
  • Increases your productivity by 50% when viewing and editing multiple documents.
  • Brings Efficient Tabs to Office (include Excel), Just Like Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
Comments (3)
No ratings yet. Be the first to rate!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Is there some way to combine this tool and others to help with the following example?
In Page 1, Column A, Cell A: the sum of all values found in the range of Page 2
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
...Page 2, Column Range A15-A25, if the corresponding cell in Page 2, Column Range B15-B25 contains the word "Apples".
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, GoodEvening, I guess you want to sum values in column A if the corresponding cells in column B are the word "apples" as the screenshot below shown, if so, you can refer to below toturial, it provides the formula to solve this problem in details.https://www.extendoffice.com/excel/formulas/excel-sum-if-cell-equals-value-does-not-equal.html
There are no comments posted here yet
Please leave your comments in English
Posting as Guest
Rate this post:
0   Characters
Suggested Locations