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How to count the lines in a cell in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
=LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),""))+1✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Notes |
| Line one |
| First line Second line |
| A B C |
| Single |
=LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),""))+1→1
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Step by step
- 1Select the cell containing multi-line text (line breaks inserted with Alt+Enter on Windows, Control+Option+Enter on Mac, or Control+Enter in Sheets).
- 2LEN(A2) counts all characters including line break characters.
- 3SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),"") removes all line breaks.
- 4The difference LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),"")) equals the number of line breaks.
- 5Adding 1 converts line-break count to line count (n breaks = n+1 lines).
- 6Full formula: =LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),""))+1.
Tips
- If you want 0 for an empty cell rather than 1, wrap with IF(A2="",0,LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),""))+1).
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Frequently asked
What if line breaks are CHAR(13) on some systems?
Excel Windows uses CHAR(10); some imported data may use CHAR(13) or both. Count both: =LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),""),CHAR(13),""))+1.
Can I split multi-line cell content into separate rows?
In Google Sheets use =SPLIT(A2,CHAR(10),TRUE,TRUE). In Excel 365 use =TEXTSPLIT(A2,,CHAR(10)) to split on line breaks.
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