Thanks, Keith & Bernard.

*=* is perfect since I'd like to avoid macros and I've verified that it works.



"Bernard Liengme" wrote:

Try =COUNTIF(A:A,"*=*")
best wishes
--
Bernard Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme

"rockhammer" wrote in message
...
Is there a way to make something like =countif($a$1:$a$100,"=") work as
intended?

The function is returning zero when there are clearly cells with the text
"=" in it. If i were to use something like $a:$a as the range, it will
just
count all the blank cells in column A.

Thanks.

.