How to Use the COUNT and COUNTA functions in Excel

Excel provides different types of count functions each of them suiting to different situations. As the name specifies these functions help to count the number of cells in a given range/ cells based on the specified criteria. Let us see what Count and CountA functions in excel are, syntax and how to use these functions.

Understanding Count and CountA functions in Excel

What is Count function in Excel

Count function returns the total number of cells that contain ONLY NUMBERS in a range/ group of cells.

Suggested Reading : Know more about Range and other excel terminology

Syntax to write COUNT function in Excel

=Count(Value1,[Value2],[Value3],….)

Let us breakdown the syntax and try to understand how Count function work.

Understanding Syntax of COUNT function in Excel

The arguments of count function are Value1,Value2,… These can be values, alphabets, symbols, special characters, space or array of values or referring to a range of cells (Cell References). [Learn more about Cell References]

Value 1 is mandatory and the rest of the fields are optional. This will be a referring to a range (Know more about ranges in excel) in majority of the cases.

Examples – Using COUNT function in Excel

See the below examples to understand the Count Function

Example 1 – Entering Values Directly in the function

In the below image 6 values 1, 2, 3, a, b, c are entered. However count function returns 3 as output as there are only 3 numbers in the data supplied to the function. See the below image

Example 2 – Entering Values Directly in the function

Instead of entering values directly, a range can be given as input to the function. It will be like =Count (Range of Data). See the below image to understand.

We have data in the range from F1 to F10. There are only 3 cells with numbers in it and the rest are alphabets and symbols along with a blank cell in between. So Count Function returns 3 as output.

What is CountA function in Excel

CountA returns the total number of cells that are NOT BLANK/ NOT EMPTY in a given range/ group of cells.

Syntax to write COUNTA function in Excel

=CountA(Value1,[Value2],[Value3],….)

Let us breakdown the syntax and try to understand how CountA function work.

Understanding Syntax of COUNTA function in Excel

The arguments of count function are Value1,Value2,… These can be values, alphabets, symbols, special characters, space or array of values or referring to a range of cells (Cell References).

Suggested Reading : Learn more about Cell References.

Value 1 is mandatory and the rest of the fields are optional. This will be a referring to a range in majority of the cases.

Remember that Space is also counted as character by the CountA function.

Syntax of count and countA functions in excel remains the same. The only difference is the value or output that each function return.

Examples – Using COUNTA function in Excel

Let us use the same data used in the COUNT function and see what COUNTA function returns.

Example 1 – Entering Values Directly in the function

In the below image we enter 6 values 1, 2, 3, a, b, c . However, COUNTA returns 6 as there are 6 values in the data supplied to the function.

Example 2 – Entering Values Directly in the function

Instead of entering values directly, you can give a range as an input to the function. It will be like =CountA(Range of Data).

See the below image to understand.

We have data in the range from F1 to F10. There are 3 cells with numbers, 3 cells with alphabets and 3 cells with symbols along with a blank cell in between. Since CountA counts the number of non-empty/ non blank cells the output will be 9.

Do you use COUNT and COUNTA functions in excel?

Share the situations/ cases where you use COUNT and COUNTA functions in excel using the comment box below.

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