Use this:

=SUMPRODUCT((A1:A100=start_date)*(A1:A100<=end_da te)*
(B1:B100="Delivered"))

This assumes your dates are inclusive - change = to and/or <= to <
if this is not the case.

Adjust your ranges to suit - I've assumed 100 rows of data.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Aug 28, 3:41*pm, alistew wrote:
Hi

i have a worksheet with 2 columns of data. *column a has dates and column b
has text (delivered or not delivered). *i want to count the number of
instances of the word delivered between a certain criteria of dates. *ie
01/01/09 and 31/01/09. *The dates are in a start date and end date cell and
will change.

Appreciate any help.

Regards
ali