counting Charactors

**shg** · 04-28-2009, 05:22 PM

C'mon, now: =countif(a1:a13, "BALTHAZOR, JESSE C*")

**jgreger** · 04-28-2009, 05:46 PM

That works if the data was all in one column. they are in 2 columns

So I need to look at both column A and B or a way to merge the two

**TonyS** · 04-28-2009, 06:51 PM

=sumproduct(isnumber(search("balthazor, jesse",a1:a13))*(left(b1:b13,1)="c"))

**shg** · 04-28-2009, 06:56 PM

That works if the data was all in one column. they are in 2 columns

That's why we prefer people post workbooks.

If the entire name columns contains only names with no trailing (or leading) spaces, then

=sumproduct( (a1:a13="balthazor, jesse") * (left(b1:b13,1)="c") )

And in that case, the first formula can be =countif(a1:a13, "BALTHAZOR, JESSE"), which is must faster than a wildcard comparison.