Hi sebastienm,

but i prefer to keep the '* 1' so that i don't spend too much time
searching
the source of a 'wrong' result.

I hope you are also aware what is the price you are paying for this. Just
imagine that, in the original formula you proposed, instead of range B1:B100
you work with B1:B1000 (which I think is more realistic). So by adding *1 to
your formula you effectively add 1000 additional (unnecessary) operations as
each member of the array will be multiplied by 1. Now a few what-if's: 1.
there are 10,000 rows involved, 2. there are more than one instance of the
formula, 3. there are more than one sheet with several instances of the
formula involving thousands of cells?

=SUMPRODUCT((LEN(A4:A7)3) * 1)
--- here, you get the right result.

Agree, this can also be achieved by double minus:

=SUMPRODUCT(--(LEN(A4:A7)3))

Regards,
KL