This page isn't translated yet, so its text is in English. Function names and formulas are shown in your Excel language.
Excel function · Counting
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.
Syntax
=COUNT(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 ;
Arguments
- value
- A range or cell to look at. Add more arguments to count across several ranges.
Example
Five students took a test. How many scores were entered?
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Student | Score |
| 2 | Ana | 78 |
| 3 | Ben | absent |
| 4 | Kai | 91 |
| 5 | Lia | |
| 6 | Mo | 65 |
| 7 | Scores entered | 3 |
The formula in B7:
=COUNT(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.
Common mistakes
- Using
COUNTto count names or other text. It only counts numbers;COUNTAcounts 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.
In other Excel languages
Excel translates function names, and in some languages the argument separator too. Type the name your Excel shows.
| Excel language | Function name | Separator |
|---|---|---|
| English | COUNT | , |
| Deutsch | ANZAHL | ; |
| Français | NB | ; |
| Español (España) | CONTAR | ; |
| Español (México) | CONTAR | , |
| 日本語 | COUNT | , |
| 한국어 | COUNT | , |
| 繁體中文 | COUNT | , |
| ไทย | COUNT | , |
| ខ្មែរ | COUNT | , |
| Tiếng Việt | COUNT | ; |