this works since I am looking for the beginning of the text. I thought I
would need to do something with LEFT function. this solution is simpler.
thank you

"Bob Phillips" wrote:

=COUNTIF(A:A,"app*")

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(replace somewhere in email address with gmail if mailing direct)

"Sloth" wrote in message
...
=SUMPRODUCT(--(LEFT(A1:A100)="app"))

"mmer at steelcase" wrote:

in excel how do I count cells that begin with specific text. Ex: in a
column with 100 entries, I want to count the number of cells that have
the
letters "app" from the word approved as the first three characters in
the cell