FormulaCraft

AREAS

AREAS counts how many separate contiguous regions make up a reference passed to it. Use it to validate dynamic named ranges, audit multi-area union references, or drive logic that branches on whether a selection is a single block or multiple disconnected blocks.

Excel
=AREAS((A1:B2,D1:D5))
Google Sheets
=AREAS((A1:B2,D1:D5))

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How it works

  1. 1The single argument `reference` is a cell, range, or union of ranges enclosed in an extra pair of parentheses — e.g. (A1:B2,D1:D5).
  2. 2Each comma-separated contiguous block counts as one area; (A1:B2,D1:D5) has two areas.
  3. 3The formula returns the integer count of those areas — here, 2.
  4. 4If you pass a single range such as A1:C10, AREAS returns 1.

Need a version for your data?

Try: “How many separate ranges are in my multi-area selection?”

Related

VLOOKUPXLOOKUPINDEX / MATCH

Written and reviewed by FormulaCraft Team. Each formula on this page is run through our verification engine before publishing.

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