Problem with SUMIF

[TommyC]

I have been trying to use SUMIF in Excel 2003 and notice a problem. I have a long list of values in Column D and want to sum them if (and only if) there appears a flag ('*') in Column A. Sounds pretty simple, huh? Well, when I code the SUMIF cell at the bottom of Column D, it always return the sum of all cells in Column D, without regard to any flags in Column A! In playing w/ this, I have found that SUMIF only seems to work for short lists (< 10 items or so).

Has anyone ever noticed this? What could be wrong?

I'm attaching a sample of the problem I describe.

[DonkeyOte]

* in context of SUMIF is a wildcard - if you want to search for * literally you must prefix with tilde ~

=SUMIF(A:A,"~*",D:D)

same holds true of ? and ~ itself.

[TommyC]

Right on, DonkeyOte. Your advice works and is duly noted. Strangely, nowhere in Excel guidance did I see any caveats ro warnings about the wildcard / tilde thing you describe.

Thanks so much!