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
Hi,
I am trying to make a spreadsheet that will count the number of times "A" happens between "B" occurrences. I am not really sure how to explain it so here is some info of what I am trying to accomplish.
B
null
null
null
A
B
A
A
null
A
null
A
B
So for the above data, I would like to count the number of times "A" appears between any given range of "B" values. So for the first two instances of "B" there would be "1" and for the range between the second and third instances of "B" there would be "4" and "null" would not be counted (they are blank cells).
Thank you for your help.
Luke
Hi i have a problem please help me to get out this problem
56 658 658
65 58 258
256 2 25
3 88 635
365 895 65
987 65 658
i want to count cell which have only two digit (example, 56,65,25 etc)
I trying to have excel calculate how many times I get as close as possible to 1 with out going over, within a column of numbers in my spread sheet? Can you please help. My column is about 40 cells in length and the unit of measurement I have are random.
Example numbers - These number will be changing more then once.
.22
.45
.67
.31
Etc.
I need the function to count the different condition in a single range. Like, In a single range numbers given 1,2,3,4,5,6,6. so, now i want to know in this range that how many numbers 1 to 3 are there.
example: 1,1,4,4,5,6,6. answer is 2. because in this condition 1 is two times repeating from 1 to 3 series and 6 is also 2 time repeting in 4-6 series.
Please help me.
I need to use a function to count the number of Part in column c2-c134 in the NWest which is in column f2-f134, I dont seem to be able to enter the correct data into any function to get it to do this
Thank you very much.. really it's very helpful
I want to use Countif formula to test the criteria range against a specific logic. In other words, If column A contains a date, and I want to count the cell if its date is within a certain week number. What I did is =COUNTIFS(Violations!A:A,WEEKNUM(Violations!A:A=WEEKNUM(TODAY())))
But it returned 0 values. Would you please check how can I do it?
I have a time keeping system that is putting a "'", an apostrophe, in a a group of cells. I am trying to count the number of people that are in a range, and unfortunately the range also contains the apostrophes in otherwise blank cells. So I need to subtract the number of cells that contain the apostrophes from total number of cells. The COUNTIF does not recognize the apostrophe, I assume because it thinks it is a character to treat the cell like text rather than a date, or number, etc. (the only work around). I cannot figure out a way to fix this other than "clearing" all of the cells of apostrophes, which is very time consuming and error prone. Any ideas?
Go for.. COUNTIFS (if not using using Excel2003)
You can add new condition to exclude "apostrophes" "'".
Please Help.
I have tree sets of data. Project Type, Resource Name and Days (columns Jan-14 to Dec-14).
Project Type being.. T1, T2, T3, T4, T5.
Resources X, Y, Z.....
Resource Allocation Days against each month... 17, 19, 11, 20, 20 as values
Now I need to calculate in a summary table.. Count of Months resources are allocated to a Project Type.
Can you please help me.
Hi Svetlana,
I have been following your posts and find them very helpful.
I just need help on something:
I have a running list surgical procedures for 2014.
Col A = date (running list)
Col B = Types of Procedure (Procedure A, Procedure B,...)
I want to count total number of procedures per month:
January - How many Procedure A, B, C, D...?
February - How many Procedure A, B, C, D... and so on.
Thank you.
I have following data sheets.
sheet1data
Branch Code Risk Number of high risk No of Risk Instances
0101 H 04 18
0102 M 11 20
0103 H 9 24
0104 L 5 13
0105 M 10 26
How I can fix formula that if branch code = 0101, check risk, count number of high risk and multiply number of risk instances
Formula that will continuesly count based on Cell value and number it sequencially
Col1
ab
cd
ef
ef
cd
ab
Result
ab-2014-01
ab-2014-02
cd-2014-01
cd-2014-02
ef-2014-01
ef-2014-02
HI there.
I'm not well versed in COUNTIF, but I think this is what I need but not sure how to go about creating a formula.
I have column with a $$ amounts in each cell and the corresponding column/cell would either be a Yes or No.
I need to create a grand total of all Yes' and a separate grand total for No's.
Can you help?
Thanks in advance.
Marcella
=countif(A:A,"yes")
=countif(A:A,"No")
A:A which area you want to range selection data if you want.
hi,
i have a excel sheet where many of products like 20p,6P,2D
and i want to sum of products in next sheet againts product when i filter any where in main product sheet
Hello Chandan,
I am sorry, I cannot follow you. If you can explain the task in more detail and provide a sample of your data, we'll try to help.
Hi Svetlana, I've read most of these question and can't find one with the same problem as I'm having. I have a range, for example A3:A9, and I want a result when another cell contains text from one of the cells in the range. For example if A3="cat", I want a result when, for example, C2="a cat on a mat". If the situation was reversed, and I wanted to know if the contents of a cell was contained in a range, I'd do =COUNTIF(A3:A9,"*"&C2&"*"), but I want to know if any cell in a range contains text in a cell. My problem is I can't use add anything, like a wildcard, to a range, so I can't do =COUNTIF("*"&A3:A9&"*";C2)
Is there a way to get this result?
Thanks
Ben
I have a document where one column has list of name (around 100). Then I have so many other columns which can have any one value from set of 5 values(val1,val2, val3, val4, val5).
Now I want to count number of val3 in row where name is Name12.
Now to make is dynamic I have created 2 cells
1. First to select Name (data validation = list)
2. Second to select val (data validation = list)
Now I want the next row to calculate total cell where value = value of second cell but from the row where name = value from first cell.
Hello Amit,
You need a VBA macro to fulfill this task. You can ask for it in special VBA sections on mrexcel.com or excelforum.com
HI
I PREPARED A WORKSHEET OF OUR EMPLOYEES TO CALCULATE SOME DATA SUCH AS THERE AGE AS ON DATE, DIVIDED THEIR AGE GROUPS ETC. BY GIVING DATE OF BIRTH. I CALCULATED THEIR AGE BY APPLYING =YEARFRAC(A1,TODAY(), 1) FORMULA. FURTHER I TRIED THEIR AGE BY DIFFERENT GROUPS SUCH AS 20-25, 26-30 ETC. FOR WHICH I APPLIED =COUNTIFS(C:C,"=CT",'G:G,">=21",G:G,"<=25"). BUT DID NOT SHOWING ACTUAL NUMBERS OF PERSONNEL COMES UNDER THAT CATEGORY IN SAID WORK SHEET. REQUEST HELP ME TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE.
S/N RANK NAME DATE OF BIRTH AGE AGE 21-25
1 CT MUNNA 18-06-1991 23 17
2 CT MITHUN 28-02-1991 24
3 CT BISWAJIT 26-06-1991 23
4 CT KARTICK 14-10-1989 25
5 CT SOURAV 22-10-1991 23
6 CT VIKASH 28-02-1991 24
7 CT VEERENDRA 03-01-1992 23
8 CT OM PRAKASH 01-07-1989 25
9 CT PAWAN 02-01-1990 25
10 CT SANJAY 09-01-1990 25
11 CT SUNIL 21-10-1990 24
12 CT Atanu 10-07-1991 23
13 CT KALI 05-02-1990 25
14 CT RAKESH 05-01-1991 24
15 CT SUNIL 09-02-1991 24
16 CT PUPINDER 12-12-1991 23
17 CT PATIL 23-11-1991 23
18 CT Gulab 10-07-1991 23
19 CT Bhupendra 18-12-1991 23
ACTUALLY ALL ARE COMES UNDER 21-25 AGE GROUP BUT SHOWING ONLY 17 NOS.
THANKING U
Hi Satheesh,
The correct formula is as follwos (F:F instead of G:G):
=COUNTIFS(C:C,"=CT",F:F,">=21",F:F,"<=25")
I am trying to count the number of occurrence of which the two certain conditions must be met. I tried it this way
COUNTIFS('Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$C$11:$C$13,"*Alangan*",'Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$V$11:$V$13,"*Those Issued*") + COUNTIFS('Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$C$15:$C$17,"*Alangan*",'Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$V$15:$V$17,"*Those Issued*") + COUNTIFS('Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$C$19:$C$21,"*Alangan*",'Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$V$19:$V$21,"*Those Issued*") + COUNTIFS('Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$C$23:$C$24,"*Alangan*",'Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$V$23:$V$24,"*Those Issued*") + COUNTIFS('Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$C$26:$C$27,"*Alangan*",'Brgy Cases,other Agencies'!$V$26:$V$27,"*Those Issued*")
You can notice that there is 5 COUNTIFS function, and it's working fine. Unfortunately, when i am trying to add another set of countifs, the result returns a date format.
Is it because there is a limit for summing up the occurrence in COUNTIF limited only to 5?
Thank you.
Hi Michael,
A formula can contain up to 8192 characters, no matter how many COUNTIFS are used. Just change the format of the cell with the formula to Number.
Is it possible to use the COUNTIF option when using fractions? I have a column of several lengths (32", 36", and 48"). I know the formula to count the cells - but I'd like to count the cells in the same column that only have 32" lengths in the cell. I tried the following and it did not work.
=COUNTIF(A3:A25,32")
=COUNTIF(A3:A25,32)
=COUNTIF(A3:A25,"32")
Thank you!!!!!
Hi Becky,
Try this formula:
=COUNTIF(A3:A25,"32""")
I know it looks very unusual, but it works : )
Hello
i need help to be able to use the countif function or similar to count text as 2 instead of just one is this possible
thanks
Hello Liam,
Just multiply the COUNTIF result by 2, e.g. =COUNTIF(A:A,"text")*2 If you have any other conditions, please specify.