Try something like this...

=COUNTIF(Data!AN2:AN533,"*"&LOV!A2&"*")

Note that it's possible to get "false positives" using this method. Without
knowing what your data looks like it's hard to say if this will be an issue.
For example:

LOV!A2 = car

Data!AN2 = train, cart

This will be counted because the substring car is contained in cart.

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"PAL" wrote in message
...
I am using the COUNTIF function as follows.

=COUNTIF(Data!AN2:AN533,LOV!A2)

It works for the most part, however, the fields I am looking up
(Data!AN2:AN533) may have more than one value in it.

That is, if LOV!A2 is "Car", Data!AN2, may have "Car, Train,..." or
"Train,
Car...).

Is there anyway to use Countif and a wild card value?

Thanks. Happy Holidays.