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Excel function · Counting

NB(COUNT)

Counts the cells that contain numbers.

What it does

COUNT tells you how many cells hold a number. Dates count too, because Excel stores them as numbers. Text, empty cells and errors are not counted.

=NB(value1; [value2]; …)

Arguments in square brackets are optional, and … means you can add more of the same. In this Excel language, arguments are separated by ;

value: A range or cell to look at. Add more arguments to count across several ranges.

Five students took a test. How many scores were entered?

The formula in B7:

=NB(B2:B6)

Result: 3

B2, B4 and B6 hold numbers. Ben's cell says absent, which is text, and Lia's is empty, so the count is 3.

Using COUNT to count names or other text. It only counts numbers; COUNTA counts any cell that isn't empty.
Numbers stored as text are not counted. A score typed with a leading apostrophe, or pasted from a web page, may be text.

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