Forum Discussion
Trying to figure out if I use CountIF, CountIFs with multiple criteria and logic.
- Mar 23, 2019
PeterBartholomew1 , IMHO the main question here is what we consider as empty cell. That could be the blank cells (no content at all) only, or blank cells and cells with empty string ("", which we usually use to imitate blank cells). If do small test we will see the difference
Here two yellow cells are with empty string and one cell is blank. Total 6 cells, 2 empty plus 1 blank.
COUNTA() doesn't consider cells with empty strings as blank and count them, same do COUNTIFS(). Just in case, COUNTBLANK() in opposite counts both blank and empty ans blanks. SUMPRODUCT() does correct calculations excluding all cells with empty strings and blank ones. Variant with LEN() is more straightforward and gives less reasons for misinterpretations.
As for @ that's not wildcard, only the character which is more close to the beginning of ASCII table compare to other characters. However, # is even earlier plus any number is always less than any text, thus formula counts only the cell with a1.
Back to initial question I'd use SUMPRODUCT like
=SUMPRODUCT((B2:B206="SU036")*(LEN(E2:E206)>0))
Armanda406 , how do you clean the plan, just delete the value from the cell(s) or by some other way? If that's the formula which returns "" your COUNTIFS won't consider it as the blank.
- Armanda406Mar 25, 2019Copper ContributorYes, I was just deleting the value from the cell. I was just trying to test it to see if it would update, but I remember now that it will still count it, so if I don't need to clear a plan then it is working. My other part to this, is how do I get the formula to count each change in SU?
- SergeiBaklanMar 25, 2019Diamond Contributor
Hi,
Do I understand correctly what other words you need number of unique SU minus one? Or that could be the situation when you change from SU1 on SU2 and after that back on SU1 and it will be 2 changes?
- Armanda406Mar 25, 2019Copper Contributor
I think I figured it out, the SU036 changes to SU074, or SU131 and I need to know for each SU the number of plans. I think I figured it out, for now. I copied the SU list and then removed any duplicates, I added to Column G and then using absolute and adding the Cell I needed to reference that contains each Unique SU, it seems to work out and count each SU that is not blank.
=SUMPRODUCT((B$2:B$206=G2)*(LEN(E$2:E$206)>0))
- PeterBartholomew1Mar 23, 2019Silver Contributor
What do you think of ">@" as a test for the existence of text?
It attempts to combine Armanda406's idea of COUNTA with the IFS formula structure.
- SergeiBaklanMar 23, 2019Diamond Contributor
PeterBartholomew1 , IMHO the main question here is what we consider as empty cell. That could be the blank cells (no content at all) only, or blank cells and cells with empty string ("", which we usually use to imitate blank cells). If do small test we will see the difference
Here two yellow cells are with empty string and one cell is blank. Total 6 cells, 2 empty plus 1 blank.
COUNTA() doesn't consider cells with empty strings as blank and count them, same do COUNTIFS(). Just in case, COUNTBLANK() in opposite counts both blank and empty ans blanks. SUMPRODUCT() does correct calculations excluding all cells with empty strings and blank ones. Variant with LEN() is more straightforward and gives less reasons for misinterpretations.
As for @ that's not wildcard, only the character which is more close to the beginning of ASCII table compare to other characters. However, # is even earlier plus any number is always less than any text, thus formula counts only the cell with a1.
Back to initial question I'd use SUMPRODUCT like
=SUMPRODUCT((B2:B206="SU036")*(LEN(E2:E206)>0))
- PeterBartholomew1Mar 23, 2019Silver Contributor
Thanks for the summary; there is still a certain amount of trial and error with my formula development in this area. I selected and have used ">@" on occasion because it comes before 'A' in the ASCII sequence. Mind you the sort order is not always obvious when it comes to mixes of numbers, letters, non-alphanumeric characters and spaces.
- Maximus1988Mar 23, 2019Copper Contributor
I am trying to copie a formule used in tab sheet 'Sales' to tab sheet 'Total Sales'.
However it doesn't copy the formule but it's just mentioning the tabsheet name + cell number.
Any idea what this could be? PeterBartholomew1
Best,
Max
- PeterBartholomew1Mar 23, 2019Silver Contributor
I am not sure whether this relates to Armanda406's question.
However, you formula will point to the same cells and the sheet name is needed for references between sheets. If there are values on the new sheet which could meaningfully be referenced by the formula, then you simply need to work through the references, removing the sheet name and adjusting the position of the reference if necessary.