greetings, i'm using COUNTIF formula to count responses from a survey and am
having problem as the formula can't distinguish between "N" and "N*"

however, another part of database includes responses "Highest" and
"Highest*" and COUNTIF seemingly can tell the difference here. any ideas?

The * is a wildcard character. N* means N followed by anything. Is that how
you want it to work or are you wanting to count the literal string N* ?

To count the literal string N* :

=COUNTI(A1:A100,"N~*")

The tilde character is a wildcard "escape" character.

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"mwam423" wrote in message
...
greetings, i'm using COUNTIF formula to count responses from a survey and
am
having problem as the formula can't distinguish between "N" and "N*"

however, another part of database includes responses "Highest" and
"Highest*" and COUNTIF seemingly can tell the difference here. any ideas?

hi biff, appreciate quick reply, thank you

You're welcome!

I guess you figured out my typo? I forgot the "F" in COUNTIF!

=COUNTI(A1:A100,"N~*")

Should be:

=COUNTIF(A1:A100,"N~*")


--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"mwam423" wrote in message
...
hi biff, appreciate quick reply, thank you

hi biff, didn't even notice the typo as we probably won't be tweaking
formula for solution (but N~* to identify literal "N*" is great stuff and,
i'm sure, will come in handy. got the gist of the problem once i read your
reply and since our process is pretty formalized, we can ensure, for
instance, that a space precedes any asterisk. COUNTIF easily recognizes that
difference, thanks for the expertise!

Good deal. Thanks for the feedback!

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"mwam423" wrote in message
...

hi biff, didn't even notice the typo as we probably won't be tweaking
formula for solution (but N~* to identify literal "N*" is great stuff and,
i'm sure, will come in handy. got the gist of the problem once i read
your
reply and since our process is pretty formalized, we can ensure, for
instance, that a space precedes any asterisk. COUNTIF easily recognizes
that
difference, thanks for the expertise!