by The tutorial explains how to use COUNTIFS and COUNTIF formulas with multiple criteria in Excel based on AND as well as OR logic. You will find a number of examples for different data types - numbers, dates, text, wildcard characters, non-blank cells and more.
Of all Excel functions, COUNTIFS and COUNTIF are probably most often mixed up because they look very much alike and both are purposed for counting cells based on the specified criteria.
The difference is that COUNTIF is designed for counting cells with a single condition in one range, whereas COUNTIFS can evaluate different criteria in the same or in different ranges. The aim of this tutorial is to demonstrate different approaches and help you choose the most efficient formula for each particular task.
Excel COUNTIFS function - syntax and usage
The Excel COUNTIFS function counts cells across multiple ranges based on one or several conditions. The function is available in Excel 365, 2021, 2019, 2016, 2013, Excel 2010, and Excel 2007, so you can use the below examples in any Excel version.
COUNTIFS syntax
The syntax of the COUNTIFS function is as follows:
- criteria_range1 (required) - defines the first range to which the first condition (criteria1) shall be applied.
- criteria1 (required) - sets the condition in the form of a number, cell reference, text string, expression or another Excel function. The criteria defines which cells shall be counted and can be expressed as 10, "<=32", A6, "sweets".
- [criteria_range2, criteria2]… (optional) - these are additional ranges and their associated criteria. You can specify up to 127 range/criteria pairs in your formulas.
In fact, you don't have to remember the syntax of the COUNTIF function by heart. Microsoft Excel will display the function's arguments as soon as you start typing; the argument you are entering at the moment is highlighted in bold.
Excel COUNTIFS - things to remember!
- You can use the COUNTIFS function in Excel to count cells in a single range with a single condition as well as in multiple ranges with multiple conditions. If the latter, only those cells that meet all of the specified conditions are counted.
- Each additional range must have the same number of rows and columns as the first range (criteria_range1 argument).
- Both contiguous and non-contiguous ranges are allowed.
- If the criteria is a reference to an empty cell, the COUNTIFS function treats it as a zero value (0).
- You can use the wildcard characters in criteria - asterisk (*) and question mark (?). See this example for full details.
How to use COUNTIFS and COUNTIF with multiple criteria in Excel
Below you will find a number of formula examples that demonstrate how to use the COUNTIFS and COUNTIF functions in Excel to evaluate multiple conditions.
How to count cells with multiple criteria (AND logic)
This scenario is the easiest one, since the COUNTIFS function in Excel is designed to count only those cells for which all of the specified conditions are TRUE. We call it the AND logic, because Excel's AND function works this way.
Formula 1. COUNTIFS formula with multiple criteria
Suppose you have a product list like shown in the screenshot below. You want to get a count of items that are in stock (value in column B is greater than 0) but have not been sold yet (value is column C is equal to 0).
The task can be accomplished by using this formula:
=COUNTIFS(B2:B7,">0", C2:C7,"=0")
And the count is 2 ("Cherries" and "Lemons"):
Formula 2. COUNTIFS formula with two criteria
When you want to count items with identical criteria, you still need to supply each criteria_range / criteria pair individually.
For example, here's the right formula to count items that have 0 both in column B and column C:
=COUNTIFS($B$2:$B$7,"=0", $C$2:$C$7,"=0")
This COUNTIFS formula returns 1 because only "Grapes" have "0" value in both columns.
Using a simpler formula with a single criteria_range like COUNTIFS(B2:C7,"=0") would yield a different result - the total count of cells in the range B2:C7 containing a zero (which is 4 in this example).
How to count cells with multiple criteria (OR logic)
As you have seen in the above examples, counting cells that meet all of the specified criteria is easy because the COUNTIFS function is designed to work this way.
But what if you want to count cells for which at least one of the specified conditions is TRUE, i.e. based on the OR logic? Overall, there are two ways to do this - by adding up several COUNTIF formulas or using a SUM COUNTIFS formula with an array constant.
Formula 1. Add up two or more COUNTIF or COUNITFS formulas
In the table below, supposing you want to count orders with the "Cancelled" and "Pending" status. To have it doen, you can simply write 2 regular Countif formulas and add up the results:
=COUNTIF($C$2:$C$11,"Cancelled") + COUNTIF($C$2:$C$11,"Pending")
In case each of the functions is supposed to evaluate more than one condition, use COUNTIFS instead of COUNTIF. For example, to get the count of "Cancelled" and "Pending" orders for "Apples" use this formula:
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, "Apples", $C$2:$C$11,"Cancelled") + COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, "Apples", $C$2:$C$11,"Pending")
Formula 2. SUM COUNTIFS with an array constant
In situations when you have to evaluate a lot of criteria, the above approach is not the best way to go because your formula would grow too big in size. To perform the same calculations in a more compact formula, list all of your criteria in an array constant, and supply that array to the criteria argument of the COUNTIFS function. To get the total count, embed COUNTIFS inside the SUM function, like this:
In our sample table, to count orders with the status "Cancelled" or "Pending" or "In transit", the formula would go as follows:
=SUM(COUNTIFS($C$2:$C$11, {"cancelled", "pending", "in transit"}))
In a similar manner, you can count cells based on two or more criteria_range / criteria pairs. For instance, to get the number of "Apples" orders that are "Cancelled" or "Pending" or "In transit", use this formula:
=SUM(COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11,"apples",$C$2:$C$11,{"cancelled","pending","in transit"}))
You can find a few more ways to count cells with OR logic in this tutorial: Excel COUNTIF and COUNTIFS with OR conditions.
How to count numbers between 2 specified numbers
By and large, COUNTIFS formulas for numbers fall into 2 categories - based on several conditions (explained in the above examples) and between the two values you specify. The latter can be accomplished in two ways - by using the COUNTIFS function or by subtracting one COUNTIF from another.
Formula 1. COUNTIFS to count cells between two numbers
To find out how many numbers between 5 and 10 (not including 5 and 10) are contained in cells C2 through C10, use this formula:
=COUNTIFS(C2:C10,">5", C2:C10,"<10")
To include 5 and 10 in the count, use the "greater than or equal to" and "less than or equal to" operators:
=COUNTIFS(B2:B10,">=5", B2:B10,"<=10")
Formula 2. COUNTIF formulas to count numbers between X and Y
The same result can be achieved by subtracting one Countif formula from another. The first one counts how many numbers are greater than the lower bound value (5 in this example). The second formula returns the count of numbers that are greater than the upper bound value (10 in this case). The difference between the first and second number is the result you are looking for.
- =COUNTIF(C2:C10,">5")-COUNTIF(C2:C10,">=10") - counts how many numbers greater than 5 and less than 10 are in the range C2:C10. This formula will return the same count as shown in the screenshot above.
- =COUNTIF(C2:C10, ">=5")-COUNTIF(C2:C10, ">10") - the formula counts how many numbers between 5 and 10 are in the range C2:C10, including 5 and 10.
How to use cell references in COUNTIFS formulas
When using logical operators such as ">", "<", "<=" or ">=" together with cell references in your Excel COUNTIFS formulas, remember to enclose the operator in "double quotes" and
add an ampersand (&) before a cell reference to construct a text string.
In a sample dataset below, let's count "Apples" orders with amount greater than $200. With criteria_range1 in cells A2:A11 and criteria_range2 in B2:B11, you can use this formula:
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, "Apples", $B$2:$B$11, ">200")
Or, you can input your criteria values in certain cells, say F1 and F2, and reference those cells in your formula:
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, $F$1, $B$2:$B$11, ">"&$F$2)
Please notice the use of absolute cell references both in the criteria and criteria_range arguments, which prevents the formula from being broken when copied to other cells.
For more information about the use of an ampersand in COUNTIF and COUNTIFS formulas, please see Excel COUNTIF - frequently asked questions.
How to use COUNTIFS with wildcard characters
In Excel COUNTIFS formulas, you can use the following wildcard characters:
- Question mark (?) - matches any single character, use it to count cells starting and/or ending with certain characters.
- Asterisk (*) - matches any sequence of characters, you use it to count cells containing a specified word or a character(s) as part of the cell's contents.
Tip. If you want to count cells with an actual question mark or asterisk, type a tilde (~) before an asterisk or question mark.
Now let's see how you can use a wildcard char in real-life COUNTIFS formulas in Excel. Suppose, you have a list of projects in column A. You wish to know how many projects are already assigned to someone, i.e. have any name in column B. And because we are learning how to use the COUNTIFS function with multiple criteria, let's add a second condition - the End Date in column D should also be set.
Here is the formula that works a treat:
=COUNTIFS(B2:B10,"*",D2:D10,"<>"&""))
Please note, you cannot use a wildcard character in the 2nd criteria because you have dates rather that text values in column D. That is why, you use the criteria that finds non-blank cells: "<>"&""
COUNTIFS and COUNTIF with multiple criteria for dates
The COUNTIFS and COUNTIF formulas you use for dates are very much similar to the above formulas for numbers.
Example 1. Count dates in a specific date range
To count the dates that fall in a certain date range, you can also use either a COUNTIFS formula with two criteria or a combination of two COUNTIF functions.
For example, the following formulas count the number of dates in cells C2 through C10 that fall between 1-Jun-2014 and 7-Jun-2014, inclusive:
=COUNTIFS(C2:C9, ">=6/1/2014", C2:C9, "<=6/7/2014")
=COUNTIF(C2:C9, ">=6/1/2014") - COUNTIF(C2:C9, ">6/7/2014")
Example 2. Count dates with multiple conditions
In the same manner, you can use a COUNTIFS formula to count the number of dates in different columns that meet 2 or more conditions. For instance, the below formula will find out how many products were purchased after the 20th of May and delivered after the 1st of June:
=COUNTIFS(C2:C9, ">5/1/2014", D2:D9, ">6/7/2014")
Example 3. Count dates with multiple conditions based on the current date
You can use Excel's TODAY() function in combination with COUNTIF to count dates based on the current date.
For example, the following COUNTIF formula with two ranges and two criteria will tell you how many products have already been purchased but not delivered yet.
=COUNTIFS(C2:C9, "<"&TODAY(), D2:D9, ">"&TODAY())
This formula allows for many possible variations. For instance, you can tweak it to count how many products were purchased more than a week ago and are not delivered yet:
=COUNTIFS(C2:C9, "<="&TODAY()-7, D2:D9, ">"&TODAY())
This is how you count cells with multiple criteria in Excel. I hope you will find these examples helpful. Anyway, I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week!
2039 comments
No accident type A B C R
1 A Total-... ... ... ...
2 B
3 B
4 R
5 B
6 A
7 C
accident type can filter.I want to get the total for each accident type for long data sheet. Thanx a lot for this service
Hi,
15-Jun MDM
16-Jun PTP
17-Jun DTDE
18-Jun MDM
19-Jun PTP
20-Jun QTC
15-Jun RTR
Above is the one which is there in my excel.
Am using formula as to find between dates from 15th to 19th
=COUNTIF(H2:H9,">=6/15/2015")-COUNTIF(H2:H9,">6/19/2015")
Along with this, I would like to add condition which Matches I column too, say if I need to see between the date rang what are all there as "MDM", in this example it should return a count as 2.
Kindly let me now how to add the condition.
hi Murugesh, you might want to try this. was having the same problem but manage to solve it like this. reason for using DATE() was because, they are comparing date serial with text before. but since you converted your dateText to the same comparing format, it would works. hope it works for you too! :)
=COUNTIFS(H2:H9,">="&DATE(2015,6,15),H2:H9,"<="&DATE(2015,6,19),I2:I9,"MDM")
Hi,
I want a formula that counts 2 or more rows like AND gate logic.
Example:
one row is having "pens" and another row having "RED color".
I want how many red color pens are there.
Thanks in advvance for ur assistance
Hi!
Supposing that Column a is "pens" and column B is color, you can use the following COUNTIFS function:
=COUNTIFS(A1:A100, "pens", B1:B100, "red")
How to Solve this.
In cell B5, use the COUNT function to calculate the total number of students in the class.
where A17:A52 contains student IDs.e.g,393-411-8,393-440-4
etc
you dont have to ise COUNTA,COUNTIF,COUNTBLANK etc functions.only use COUNT function
Hi, I'm trying to count the number of items between two dates which meet a criteria (A3). So far i have got this, which seems to be only giving the results which are greater than 1 May as opposed to between 1 May and 31 May:
=COUNTIFS('DRAFT AUDIT RESULTS REGISTER'!$B$3:$B$100,A3,'DRAFT AUDIT RESULTS REGISTER'!$A$3:$A$100,">=1/05/2015")*AND(COUNTIF('DRAFT AUDIT RESULTS REGISTER'!$A$3:$A$100,"<=31/05/2015"))
How do i count a row based on specific column data. Like count the number of cells with numbers and exclude Fridays from the column.
well simple way is this =COUNT(E22:AI22)-COUNT(I22,P22,W22,AD22)
but i want it more automated where the COUNT(I22,P22,W22,AD22)are the Fridays and COUNT(E22:AI22) is the cells with numbers
Hi Svetlana,
Hoping you can help with my data comparison.
I have two sets of timesheet data (3 cols - project, person and hours) and i have managed to find ones where all three match between the sets. what i am trying to find out is where the Project and person match but the hours have changed... i want to find out by how much the hours have changed
So if in Set A - person x has done y hrs against Project 1
But in Set B - Person x has done Z hrs against project 1.
i would like the formula to tell me that Person X's hours against project 1 has changed by (y-z)hrs
thank you ... this would save me hours of manual work!
thanks
meena
Hi Svetlana.
I have a table and the rows contain either "TRUE" or "FALSE" in each cell.
Is it possible to count how many times have "True" happened 3 in a row on each roll? e.g TRUE TRUE TRUE
So at the following example, "True True True" happens 1 time only:
FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE TRUE TRUE TRUE FALSE
and what if I have 4 True happened in a row:
FALSE TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE
Will Excel read "True True True True" as 2 times?
Thank you!
thanks a lot Svetlana, it is really very helpful
Hi,
I have a table in excel with dates, times and list of random names for each day at different times.
I would like to be able to count how many times all the different names appear. It is very much like an attendance sheet (only I'm trying to count non attendances), with session starting every 30 minutes. Ideally, I would also like to know times and dates with most non attendances.
Thank you very much for your help.
Hi.
I wanted to know how to write a formula in Excel for the following:
Suppose there are variable names available in individual cells in a column in one sheet. Excel needs to count (and subsequently sum up) the number of times those names appear in a column in another sheet and display the answer in a cell in another sheet.
Greatly appreciate your assistance on this.
Regards,
Ken
Hi Ken,
Your Countif formula may look similar to this:
=COUNTIF(Sheet2!A2:A100, Sheet1!A2)
Where column A in sheet2 is where all the different names appear, and A2 in sheet1 is an individual cell with a variable name you want to count.
Hi,
i want to know how can i count in given below table there is final result is latest revision.
No. Rev.00 Rev.01 Rev.02
1 C D B
2 C B B
3 D C B
4 D B A
Time Criteria using counti if
=countif(A1:A100,"<="&TIME(10,0,0))
I want to know how many people arrived before 10 AM from that column.
Excel is not giving the output.
Would b great if anyone could help
Hi Sourav,
Try this one:
=COUNTIF(A1:A100,"<="&TIMEVALUE("10:00 AM"))
Hi Svetlana,
I am working on date range and I want to get the weekly counts with inclusive dates. Can you pls. help me how to figure out the cell reference with variable dates?
Thanks in advance,
Jose
Thanks Svetlana for helping me and resolve all my statistic issues.
hi i want to use cell as a criteria by counti formula,
and i could not find out solution. is it possible?
if possible how i can do it
Hi Kerem,
Of course, you can use a cell reference as a criteria. In this case, you enclose the operator in quotation marks and add an ampersand (&) before the cell. For example:
=COUNTIFS(A2:A10,">"&$D$3)
Hello,
Thank you for your helpful tips however I have a scenario non-applicable to the ones you have provided. I'd greatly appreciate if you could help me create a formula for the following scenario:
I need to get a count of Employee Names that do not have an assignment to an Employee Group. For Example:
Column A
Employee Names
Column B
Employee Group
I need a count of cells to be counted only when there is text in Column A and no text in Column B.
Currently I am using the following syntax: =Countifs(A2:A1000,"*",B2:B1000,"")
This syntax is returning a sum of cells with formulas minus those cells with data populated.
How can I fix this?
Hi Sarah,
Try this one:
=COUNTIFS(A2:A1000,"<>"&"",B2:B1000,"")
Hi Svetlana, I would really appreciate any help you can give me with the following:
I have 2 columns of data like this
Column 1 Column 2
Beer 1
Wine 2
Beer 1
Beer 2
Wine 3
and so on,is there a way to calculate the data to get the total amount from column 2 per item from column 1?
Thanks in advance,
Hi Kel,
You can use a SUMIF formula similar to this:
=SUMIF(A1:A5, "Beer", B1:B5) where column A is the product name and column B is qty.
Please help me
I want to maintain my attendance register with conditions. Like if a employee took more than 4 days leave (continuously). automatically it should display straight to his name: warning
for example
Attendance Register
employee 1 : b1:af1 (31 columns for month)
If he took 4 days leave continuously then only result should show warning message.
If he took 1 day leave and works for 2 days and again took leave. no need to warn.
I just need if he took continuously 4 leave days with b1:af1, result warning !
Please help, Thanks in advance for responding to my queries
I want to maintain my attendance register with conditions. Like if a employee took more than 4 days leave (continuously). automatically it should display straight to his name: warning
for example
Attendance Register
employee 1 : b1:af1 (31 columns for month)
If he took 4 days leave continuously then only result should show warning message.
If he took 1 day leave and works for 2 days and again took leave. no need to warn.
I just need if he took continuously 4 leave days with b1:af1, result warning !
Please help, Thanks in advance for responding to my queries