Count Unique Values in Excel

Count of Unique Values in Excel (Table of Contents)

• Count Unique Values in Excel Using COUNTIF
• COUNTIF Formula in Excel
• How to Count Unique Values in Excel Using COUNTIF?

Count Unique Values in Excel Using COUNTIF

• COUNTIF Function is a pre-built integrated function in excel that is categorized under statistical function.
• COUNTIF function counts the cells based on the condition you mention in the formula.
• It’s an advanced or upgraded version of COUNT function.
• COUNTIF function is capable of counting different kinds of cells i.e. a cell with text values, date values, blanks or non-blank, cells with the number or numeric values, cells with specific words or character, etc.
• COUNTIF function in excel is flexible, easy to use & very simple function with few arguments.
• COUNTIF function can also be integrated with other excel functions (E.g. COUNTIF along with various excel function with single or multiple criteria) to get the desired output.

Definition

COUNTIF Function counts the number of cells within a specified range based on a specific condition or criteria applied.

COUNTIF Formula in Excel

Below is the COUNTIF Formula in Excel :

The COUNTIF Function has two arguments i.e. range, criteria.

• Range: (Compulsory or required argument) It indicates the range of cells on which the criteria will be applied.
• Criteria: (Compulsory or required argument) It is a condition which will be applied to the values presented by the range of cells. It indicates what needs to be counted.

Note: It can be either a text string, cell reference or mathematical/logical expression.

• In Criteria argument, Non-numeric values must be always enclosed within double quotes.
• Criteria argument is case-insensitive, where it can consider a lower, proper & upper case.
• The Wildcard characters can also be used in criteria argument of COUNTIF function.

The three most widely used wildcard characters in Excel COUNTIF functions are:

1.  Question mark (?): Used to track or identify or take a count of a single character.
2.  Asterisk (*): To match any sequence of leading or trailing characters.
3. Tilde (~): To find out an actual question mark or asterisk.

COUNTIF function is purely based on logic what you apply in criteria argument.

Various arithmetic operators can be used in COUNTIF function:

These above mentioned operators are used in Criteria argument of the COUNTIF function. 

How to Count Unique Values in Excel Using COUNTIF?

Count Unique Values in Excel Using COUNTIF is very simple and easy to use. Let us understand the count of unique values in excel by some example.

Count Values for a Given Unique Number Value in Excel – Example #1

In the below-mentioned example. The Table contains Name of the student in column B (B8 to B24) & score of each student (C8 to C24). Here, in the dataset there is a repetition of scores, Here I need to get the count of unique score i.e. “35” from this dataset range (C8:C24).

Let’s apply COUNTIF function in cell “E9”. Select the cell “E9” where COUNTIF function needs to be applied.

Click the insert function button (fx) under formula toolbar, a dialog box will appear, Type the keyword “COUNTIF” in the search for a function box, COUNTIF function will appear in select a Function box. Double click on COUNTIF function.

A dialog box appears where arguments for COUNTIF function needs to be filled or entered i.e. =COUNTIF (Range, criteria)

• Range: To enter range argument, click inside cell C8 and you’ll see the cell selected, then Select the cells till C24. So that column range will get selected i.e. C8:C24.
• Criteria: It is a condition that tells the countif function which cells to count i.e. 35.

Click ok, after entering both the argument.

=COUNTIF (C8:C24,35)

i.e. returns the count of unique score i.e. “35” from this dataset range (C8:C24). Click OK

Here, COUNTIF function has returned a count of unique score i.e. “35” within a defined range i.e. 4. The passing score has appeared 4 times in a dataset range (C8:C24).

Count Values for a Given Unique Text Value in Excel – Example #2

In the below-mentioned example, Table contains a date in the column G (G5 to G20) & day in the column (H5 to H20). Here, In the dataset there is a repetition of days, Here I need to get the count of unique day i.e. “Tuesday” only from this dataset range (H5:H20).

Let’s apply COUNTIF function in cell “J7”. Select the cell “J7” where COUNTIF function needs to be applied.

Click the insert function button (fx) under formula toolbar, a dialog box will appear, Type the keyword “COUNTIF” in the search for a function box, COUNTIF function will appear in select a Function box. Double click on COUNTIF function.

A dialog box appears where arguments for COUNTIF function needs to be filled or entered i.e. =COUNTIF (Range, criteria)

• Range: To enter range argument, click inside cell H5 and you’ll see the cell selected, then Select the cells till H20. So that column range will get selected i.e. H5:H20.
• Criteria: It is a condition that tells the countif function which cells to count or cell containing text value i.e. “TUESDAY”.

Here, we are using a text value or condition, we have to type it within double quotation marks. Another thing that you should know is criteria. it is case insensitive, where you can also use “Tuesday” in lowercase format

Click ok, after entering both the argument.

=COUNTIF (H5:H20,”TUESDAY”)

i.e. returns the count of unique text value i.e. “Tuesday” from this dataset range (H5:H20). Click OK.

Here, COUNTIF function has returned a count of unique text value i.e. “Tuesday” within defined range i.e. 3. Tuesday has appeared 3 times in a dataset range (H5:H20).

Suppose you want to count Saturdays and Sundays, you can still use this COUNTIF function. As both, the text value starts with “S”. we can use a simple syntax of COUNTIF.

Here we can use a wild character, asterisk (*) to match a sequence of leading character i.e. “s”

Lets checkout, how it works, Here I use formula =COUNTIF (H5:H20,”S*”)

where it returns the count of Saturdays and Sundays i.e. 4

Things to Remember about Count of Unique Values in Excel

• COUNTIF function is not applicable to a non-adjacent range of cells.
• If the text string in criteria argument contains more than 255 characters or greater than 255 characters in length. than #VALUE! error occurs.

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This has been a guide to Count unique values in excel using COUNTIF. Here we discuss the COUNTIF Formula in excel and how to count unique values in excel along with practical examples and downloadable excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

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