=COUNTIF(A1:A7,"?*")

which excludes zero-length text values.

Debbie wrote:
Hi, I need to count the number of cells in a range that have text in the
cell. There are a number of blank cells that when I use the counta function
are included in the count. I don't want the blank cells counted. Any
suggestions?
Ex:
A1 contains 'oranges';A2 to A4 is blank; A5 contains 'apples'; A6 contains
'oranges' A7 contains 'pears'
I want the total in cell A8 to be 4.