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How to count cells that contain a substring in Excel and Google Sheets
Excel & Google Sheets
=COUNTIF(A2:A6,"*apple*")✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Product |
| Green Apple |
| Pineapple Juice |
| Banana |
| Apple Cider |
| Mango Smoothie |
=COUNTIF(A2:A6,"*apple*")→3
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Step by step
- 1Select the output cell.
- 2Type =COUNTIF( then select the range, e.g. A2:A6.
- 3For the criterion, type "*" & D1 & "*" if the search term is in D1, or hard-code it as "*apple*".
- 4Close the parenthesis and press Enter.
- 5The asterisk wildcard matches zero or more characters, so *apple* matches 'pineapple', 'apple pie', and 'Apple' (case-insensitive).
Tips
- COUNTIF wildcards are case-insensitive: *apple* matches 'Apple', 'APPLE', and 'apple'.
- Use the concatenation approach for dynamic searches: =COUNTIF(A2:A6,"*"&D1&"*").
- If you need case-sensitive substring matching, use SUMPRODUCT with FIND: =SUMPRODUCT((ISNUMBER(FIND("apple",A2:A6)))*1).
- The ? wildcard matches exactly one character; * matches any number of characters.
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Frequently asked
How do I count cells that contain a number as a substring?
Use the wildcard approach: =COUNTIF(A2:A6,"*5*") counts cells containing the digit 5 anywhere. COUNTIF converts numbers to text for wildcard matching.
What if I want case-sensitive substring matching?
Use =SUMPRODUCT((ISNUMBER(FIND("apple",A2:A6)))*1). FIND is case-sensitive while SEARCH is not.