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Sum if cells contain an asterisk in Excel

As we all know, the asterisk is a wildcard in Excel. To sum cells containing an asterisk that is regarded as a literal character not a wildcard, you can apply a formula based on the SUMIF function and the tilde (~).

How to sum if cells contain an asterisk in Excel?

As shown in the screenshot below, to sum sales in the range D5:D12 when the corresponding cell in range C5:C12 contains an asterisk, you can follow the steps below.

Generic Formulas

=SUMIF(range,"*~**",[sum_range])

Arguments

Range: A range of cells which you want to evaluate if it contains an asterisk;
Sum_range: A range of cells that you want to sum.

How to use this formula?

Select a cell to output the result, copy or enter the below formula and press the Enter key.

=SUMIF(C5:C12,"*~**",D5:D12)

Notes: The above formula sums cells no matter where the asterisk is in a cell.

To sum cells whose asterisk is at the end of the cell, you can apply a formula like this:

=SUMIF(C5:C12,"*~*",D5:D12)

To sum cells whose asterisk is at the beginning of the cell, apply the formula below:

=SUMIF(C5:C12,"~**",D5:D12)

Explanation of the formula

=SUMIF(C5:C12,"*~**",D5:D12)

ROW(E5:E14)-ROW(E5)+1:
> "*~**": To prevent Excel from treating asterisks as wildcards, you can add a tilde (~) before an asterisk to mark this asterisk as a literal character. Here the first and the last asterisk is a wildcard which means “one or more characters”; the asterisk after the tilde represents a literal asterisk.
The whole “*~**” means to match all cells containing an asterisk, no matter where the asterisk is in a cell.

Related functions

Excel SUMIF function
The Excel SUMIF function can help to sum cells based on one criterion

Related formulas

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This step-by-step tutorial demonstrates how to sum a range of cells if the corresponding cells containing both x and y by using the SUMIFS function.

Sum if cells contain or equal to either x or y
To sum the cells if contain or equal to either one value or another, this tutorial provides two formulas in detail to help solve the problems.

Sum if date is between two dates
This tutorial demonstrates how to sum values within a certain date range in Excel with a formula based on the SUMIFS function.

Sum if cells are equal or not equal to a certain value
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Comments (5)
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Ressa
Ressa
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi Crystal;
I tried it in Microsoft365 and Excel2010.
Thanks
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Ressa
Ressa
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
That is cool. Thank you.
However, I was looking for something else.
I have certain numbers that I have to add in a column that have asterisks.
For example: The column has numbers 8.00, 7.00*, 40.00, 10.00*; which equals, 65.00. The numbers with the asterisks do not add (of course) so the sum = 48.00.
So, is there a way to have the asterisks and have it add them too?
Thanks a bunch!
Ressa
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crystal
crystal     Ressa
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi Ressa,
The following array formula can help. Suppose your numbers are in range A2:A6, after entering the formula in a cell, press the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys on your keyboad to get the result.
=SUM(IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("*",A2:A6)),SUBSTITUTE(A2:A6,"*","")+0))
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Ressa
Ressa     crystal
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Thank you Crystal,
It always returns zero when I use it.
Does it replace the "*" with nothing?
They want the "*" still there.
I am sure there is no way to have a formula.
Thanks,
Ressa
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crystal
crystal     Ressa
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Hi Ressa,
This formula works well in my case. May I ask which Excel version are you using?
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