If the value to be counted will not be repeated within a cell (eg 17,17,17)
Try this:

With A1:A5 containing the following values....
1,14,17
17
117
17,10,20
12,17,55

This formula returns the count of "17"...
B1: =SUM(COUNTIF(A1:A5,{"17,*","17","*,17,*","*,17"}))

Using the sample data, that formula returns: 4
Note: 117 does NOT equal 17

Is that something you can work with?
Post back if you have more questions.
-------------------------------
Regards,

Ron
Microsoft MVP - Excel
(WinXP, Excel 2003)

"Mac" wrote in message
...
Hello,
having a column in which data is entered like (1 line here denoted 1 cell)

1,14,17
2
3,8
12,14
14,14,17

the usual countif won't work, of course. How do I go about a formula such
as
- "give me a count of all occurrences of the number 17 in the given
range"?