Excel: return the number of cells that are not blank

calendar_today Asked Jun 6, 2012
thumb_up 14 upvotes
history Updated April 16, 2026

Question posted 2012 · +5 upvotes

I am trying to find a function that will return the number of cells within a given range that have a number in them. I want to count the number of responses that people gave, irregardless of the value they entered in the cell.
How do I do this?

Accepted answer +14 upvotes

If you are looking for a number of cells containing numeric values, then COUNT() function is what you’re looking for:

=COUNT(A1:D6)

If you are looking number of cells with non-blank values (numeric or otherwise), then COUNTA() is the right function:

=COUNTA(A1:D6)

The last formula works only if none of the cells have empty strings as values (i.e. none of the cells in the range have ="" or something equivalent in them). If that is the case, then this formula should be used instead:

=SUMPRODUCT((E7:G10<>"") * 1)

3 code variants in this answer

  • Variant 1 — 1 lines, starts with =COUNT(A1:D6)
  • Variant 2 — 1 lines, starts with =COUNTA(A1:D6)
  • Variant 3 — 1 lines, starts with =SUMPRODUCT((E7:G10<>"") * 1)

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