Not surprising it's a formula error - the first argument of COUNTIF() is
a range, not an array of text strings...

One way:

=SUMPRODUCT(--(LEFT(A1:A1000,3)="FPP"),--(LEFT(B1:B1000,4)="Conn")

For an explanation of "--" see

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/doubleneg.html



In article .com,
"Kevin" wrote:

I want to do a COUNTIF using the text combine in 2 columns.
I tried using concatenate =COUNTIF(A:A&B:B,"FPP*Conn*") but I get an
formula error