Exceljet

Quick, clean, and to the point

Count cells that begin with

Excel formula: Count cells that begin with
Generic formula 
=COUNTIF(rng,"txt*")
Summary 

To count the number of cells that begin with certain text, you can use the COUNTIF function. In the generic form of the formula (above) rng is a range of cells, txt represents the text that cells should begin with, and "*" is a wildcard matching any number of characters. In the example shown, cell F5 contains this formula:

=COUNTIF(B5:B12,"app*")
Explanation 

COUNTIF counts the number of cells in the range that begin with txt by matching the content of each cell against the pattern "txt*", which is supplied as the criteria. The "*" symbol (the asterisk) is a wildcard in Excel that means "match any number of characters". The count of cells that match this pattern is returned as a number.

Author 
Dave Bruns
Related formulas 
Excel formula: Count cells that end with
Count cells that end with
COUNTIF counts the number of cells in the range that end with "r" by matching the content of each cell against the pattern "*r", which is supplied as the criteria . The "*" symbol (the asterisk) is a wildcard in Excel that means "match any number of...
Excel formula: Count cells that contain specific text
Count cells that contain specific text
The COUNTIF function counts cells in a range that meet criteria. For example, to count the number of cells in a range that contain "a" you can use: = COUNTIF ( range , "a" ) // exact match However, note this is an exact match. In order to...
Related functions 
Excel COUNTIF function
Excel COUNTIF Function

COUNTIF is an Excel function to count cells in a range that meet a single condition. COUNTIF can be used to count cells that contain dates, numbers, and text. The criteria used in COUNTIF supports logical...

Excel COUNTIFS function
Excel COUNTIFS Function

The Excel COUNTIFS function returns the count of cells that meet one or more criteria. COUNTIFS can be used with criteria based on dates, numbers, text, and other conditions. COUNTIFS supports logical operators (>,...

See also 
Excel's RACON functions

Excel Formula Training

Formulas are the key to getting things done in Excel. In this accelerated training, you'll learn how to use formulas to manipulate text, work with dates and times, lookup values with VLOOKUP and INDEX & MATCH, count and sum with criteria, dynamically rank values, and create dynamic ranges. You'll also learn how to troubleshoot, trace errors, and fix problems. Instant access. See details here.

500 Formulas | 101 Functions

Download 200+ Excel Shortcuts

Get over 200 Excel shortcuts for Windows and Mac in one handy PDF.