countif results
 

Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text "True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

"True" (in quotes) means literal text. The text isn't literal. Rather "true"
in this case is a value. So, you dont' need the quotes in your formula.

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text "True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

Hello Anne -

That doesn't work as I had already tried that......still returns 0.

What it is about True that causes this problem? In the IF formula when I
change the text "True" to the boolean TRUE then use -

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)

I get the correct result.

I guess I can use the boolean value but would still like to know why True
doesn't get recognized ?????

Thanks

"Anne Troy" wrote:

"True" (in quotes) means literal text. The text isn't literal. Rather "true"
in this case is a value. So, you dont' need the quotes in your formula.

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text "True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

Try this

=SUMPRODUCT(--(A10:A20="TRUE"))

Does it help?


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text "True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

Why would you even type in true in an if formula? E.g.

=IF(A12,"True","False")

can be written

=A12

instead, there is no need to write true or false

--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

(No private emails please)


"Lookin for a job" wrote in
message ...
Hello Anne -

That doesn't work as I had already tried that......still returns 0.

What it is about True that causes this problem? In the IF formula when I
change the text "True" to the boolean TRUE then use -

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)

I get the correct result.

I guess I can use the boolean value but would still like to know why True
doesn't get recognized ?????

Thanks

"Anne Troy" wrote:

"True" (in quotes) means literal text. The text isn't literal. Rather
"true"
in this case is a value. So, you dont' need the quotes in your formula.

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text
"True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

Hi,

Since you are pretty confident that True is text and not a logical value,
why don't you try something like this (just in case there is an extra space
o something):

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"*True*")

Regards,
KL


"Lookin for a job" wrote in
message ...
Hello Anne -

That doesn't work as I had already tried that......still returns 0.

What it is about True that causes this problem? In the IF formula when I
change the text "True" to the boolean TRUE then use -

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)

I get the correct result.

I guess I can use the boolean value but would still like to know why True
doesn't get recognized ?????

Thanks

"Anne Troy" wrote:

"True" (in quotes) means literal text. The text isn't literal. Rather
"true"
in this case is a value. So, you dont' need the quotes in your formula.

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text
"True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

=IF(A12,"True","False")

can be written

=A12

Yes it can but I don't want a FALSE return. I want "".

I can use the boolean TRUE -

=IF(A12,True,"")

But why doesn't "true" get recognized?

What's the difference between "apples" and "true" in a Countif?

Seems to me there is none ???

Thanks

"Peo Sjoblom" wrote:

Why would you even type in true in an if formula? E.g.

=IF(A12,"True","False")

can be written

=A12

instead, there is no need to write true or false

--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

(No private emails please)


"Lookin for a job" wrote in
message ...
Hello Anne -

That doesn't work as I had already tried that......still returns 0.

What it is about True that causes this problem? In the IF formula when I
change the text "True" to the boolean TRUE then use -

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)

I get the correct result.

I guess I can use the boolean value but would still like to know why True
doesn't get recognized ?????

Thanks

"Anne Troy" wrote:

"True" (in quotes) means literal text. The text isn't literal. Rather
"true"
in this case is a value. So, you dont' need the quotes in your formula.

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text
"True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

That works and I'm absolutely certain that the IF formula uses the text value
"true" and not the boolen value TRUE and there are no extra chars in the
cells.

I really appreciate everyones input and suggestions but does anybody know
WHY -

=Countif(A10:20,"true")

Thanks

"KL" wrote:

Hi,

Since you are pretty confident that True is text and not a logical value,
why don't you try something like this (just in case there is an extra space
o something):

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"*True*")

Regards,
KL


"Lookin for a job" wrote in
message ...
Hello Anne -

That doesn't work as I had already tried that......still returns 0.

What it is about True that causes this problem? In the IF formula when I
change the text "True" to the boolean TRUE then use -

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)

I get the correct result.

I guess I can use the boolean value but would still like to know why True
doesn't get recognized ?????

Thanks

"Anne Troy" wrote:

"True" (in quotes) means literal text. The text isn't literal. Rather
"true"
in this case is a value. So, you dont' need the quotes in your formula.

=Countif(A10:A20,TRUE)
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text
"True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

That certainly will work but the Countif is more efficient.

I changed the text true to the boolean TRUE.

I really appreciate everyones help but can anyone answer the question as to
why -

=Countif(A10:A20,"true")

returns 0 ???

Thanks

"kk" wrote:

Try this

=SUMPRODUCT(--(A10:A20="TRUE"))

Does it help?


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text "True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

Okay. I think you'd better give us the exact formulas in your A10 to A20
'cause I can't replicate the problem you're having. Works for me whether
"TRUE" or TRUE.

*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" wrote in
message ...
That certainly will work but the Countif is more efficient.

I changed the text true to the boolean TRUE.

I really appreciate everyones help but can anyone answer the question as
to
why -

=Countif(A10:A20,"true")

returns 0 ???

Thanks

"kk" wrote:

Try this

=SUMPRODUCT(--(A10:A20="TRUE"))

Does it help?


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text
"True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

Hmm... not for me (XL03/04).

Using
=COUNTIF(A10:A20,TRUE)

or

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"TRUE")

fails to count cells in A10:A20 containing Text "TRUE".

OTOH this counted Text "TRUE" but not boolean TRUE:

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"TRUE*")




In article ,
"Anne Troy" wrote:

Okay. I think you'd better give us the exact formulas in your A10 to A20
'cause I can't replicate the problem you're having. Works for me whether
"TRUE" or TRUE.

Have a look see at this screencap -

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9371/countif4tc.jpg

It seems aparent to me that Countif doesn't like a text "True".

I'm just wanting to know why.

What's the difference between -

=Countif(A10:A20,"apples")

and

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

Thanks

"Anne Troy" wrote:

Okay. I think you'd better give us the exact formulas in your A10 to A20
'cause I can't replicate the problem you're having. Works for me whether
"TRUE" or TRUE.

*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" wrote in
message ...
That certainly will work but the Countif is more efficient.

I changed the text true to the boolean TRUE.

I really appreciate everyones help but can anyone answer the question as
to
why -

=Countif(A10:A20,"true")

returns 0 ???

Thanks

"kk" wrote:

Try this

=SUMPRODUCT(--(A10:A20="TRUE"))

Does it help?


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text
"True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

Wow! That's weird. I can reproduce this in XL2K.

KL


"Lookin for a job" wrote in
message ...
Have a look see at this screencap -

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9371/countif4tc.jpg

It seems aparent to me that Countif doesn't like a text "True".

I'm just wanting to know why.

What's the difference between -

=Countif(A10:A20,"apples")

and

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

Thanks

"Anne Troy" wrote:

Okay. I think you'd better give us the exact formulas in your A10 to A20
'cause I can't replicate the problem you're having. Works for me whether
"TRUE" or TRUE.

*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"Lookin for a job" wrote in
message ...
That certainly will work but the Countif is more efficient.

I changed the text true to the boolean TRUE.

I really appreciate everyones help but can anyone answer the question
as
to
why -

=Countif(A10:A20,"true")

returns 0 ???

Thanks

"kk" wrote:

Try this

=SUMPRODUCT(--(A10:A20="TRUE"))

Does it help?


"Lookin for a job" <Lookin for a wrote
in
message ...
Hello Guys..

I have a range of IF formulas in A10:A20 that return either a text
"True"
(not a boolean) or a blank "" .

There are several "Trues" in the range but when I use -

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

I get a result of 0.

Why is this?

Thanks

I'm certainly not an authority, but I'll take a guess. The
implementation of COUNTIF() parses the comparison argument as a string,
so

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"=" & B1)

will interpret the concatenated string and attempt to deduce the
argument type from the context. When a comparison operator is left out,
"=" is implied, so just as

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,10)

is syntactically equivalent to

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"=10")

So

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"True")

is syntactically equivalent to

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"=True")

Obviously, the function parser will preferentially interpret arguments
as numbers or booleans rather than strings, so the boolean will be
matched.

However, when you use a wildcard:

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"TRUE*")

it forces the parser to interpret the argument as a string, and thus
match


In article ,
"Lookin for a job" wrote:

What's the difference between -

=Countif(A10:A20,"apples")

and

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")

That sounds reasonable.

Plenty of alternatives available to avoid this but it just seemed like such
a simple and basic formula that had me baffled.

I've been using XL for years and can't ever remember running into this before.

Thanks to everyone for their input.



"JE McGimpsey" wrote:

I'm certainly not an authority, but I'll take a guess. The
implementation of COUNTIF() parses the comparison argument as a string,
so

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"=" & B1)

will interpret the concatenated string and attempt to deduce the
argument type from the context. When a comparison operator is left out,
"=" is implied, so just as

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,10)

is syntactically equivalent to

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"=10")

So

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"True")

is syntactically equivalent to

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"=True")

Obviously, the function parser will preferentially interpret arguments
as numbers or booleans rather than strings, so the boolean will be
matched.

However, when you use a wildcard:

=COUNTIF(A10:A20,"TRUE*")

it forces the parser to interpret the argument as a string, and thus
match


In article ,
"Lookin for a job" wrote:

What's the difference between -

=Countif(A10:A20,"apples")

and

=Countif(A10:A20,"True")