Actually I solved my own problem. Using the example below the syntax is:

=COUNTIF(L8:L100,"*Arizona*")

Thanks for the effort.

"Ray Hill" wrote in message
...
To keep it simple, let's say my data is in cells L8 through L100. Say I
want to find the number of times Arizona is used in those cells. Each cell
has at least two words in it. What do I say?

"Glenn" wrote in message
...
Ray Hill wrote:
I have a column of cells in Excel 2000 with place names in them, such as
Phoenix, Arizona; White Plains, New York; Carson City, Nevada; Dayton,
Ohio; etc. Each cell usually contains two words, city and state,
separated by a comma. Although sometimes it's more than two words if the
city and/or state is two words, such as Carson City or New York.

What function and syntax would I use to find the number of times, say,
Arizona is used in the range of cells?

Thanks.

Assuming your data is in A1:A100 and "Arizona" is in B1, put this in C1:

=COUNTIF(A1:A100,"*"&B1&"*")