Averageifs using cell reference in criteria

You're welcoem.

The & is a shortcut for concatenate, to join 2 text strings together into 1.

So a normal sumifs syntax for greater than some number is ">10"
When you try to put a cell reference for the 10 like ">B10"
It reads B10 literally as a text string "B10" (not the contents of the cell B10)

so ">"&B10
Takes the contents of the cell B10 as a text string, and joins it with the text string ">"
So if B10 = 5 or whatever, then it's ">5"

That's really useful info, thanks for your help!

I have a problem similar to the one in this thread, I'd like to point to the text contents of a cell to use as criteria in my Sumifs function. My formula currently looks like this:

=SUMIFS(Data!B:B,Data!A:A,"*CIP-168*")

I want to pick up all cells in my criteria range with the text "CIP-168" in them, but I don't want to have to type it in my Sumifs formula, I want to reference a cell with the text "CIP-168" in it. I appreciate any help, thank you!