Excel formula: Sum if cells contain specific text

Generic formula

=SUMIF(range,"*text*",sum_range)

Summary

To sum if cells contain specific text, you can use the SUMIF function with a wildcard. In the example shown, cell G6 contains this formula:

=SUMIF(C5:C11,"*t-shirt*",D5:D11)

This formula sums the amounts in column D when a value in column C contains "t-shirt". Note that SUMIF is not case-sensitive.

Explanation

The SUMIF function supports wildcards. An asterisk (*) means "one or more characters", while a question mark (?) means "any one character". These wildcards allow you to create criteria such as "begins with", "ends with", "contains 3 characters" and so on.

To match all items that contain "t-shirt", the criteria is "*t-shirt*". Note that you must enclose literal text and the wildcard in double quotes ("").

Alternative with SUMIFS

You can also use the SUMIFS function. SUMIFS can handle multiple criteria, and the order of the arguments is different from SUMIF. The equivalent SUMIFS formula is:

=SUMIFS(D5:D11,C5:C11,"*t-shirt*")

Notice that the sum range always comes first in the SUMIFS function.

Author

Dave Bruns

Related formulas

Sum if begins with

The SUMIF function supports wildcards . An asterisk (*) means "one or more characters", while a question mark (?) means "any one character". These wildcards allow you to create criteria such as "begins with", "ends with", "contains 3 characters" and...

Sum if not blank

The SUMIF function supports all of the standard Excel operators, including not-equal-to, which is input as . When you use an operator in the criteria for a function like SUMIF, you need to enclose it in double quotes (""). When you use only " " in a...

Sum if cells are equal to

Both formulas use built-in functions to calculate a subtotal, but the syntax used by SUMIF and SUMIFS is slightly different: SUMIF ( range , criteria , sum_range ) SUMIFS ( sum_range , range , criteria ) In both cases, note that the region "West"...

Sum if cells are not equal to

The SUMIF function supports all of the standard Excel operators, including not-equal-to, which is input as . When you use an operator in the criteria for a function like SUMIF, you need to enclose it in double quotes (""). In this case, the criteria...

Sum if equal to either x or y

In the example shown, we want to sum amounts for both the West and North regions. In other words, we want the total for amounts where region is either West or North. In the example shown, the formula in H6 uses SUMIFS twice: = SUMIF ( region ,...

SUMIFS with multiple criteria and OR logic

By default, the SUMIFS function only allows AND logic – when you provide multiple conditions, all conditions must match to be included in the result. One solution is to supply multiple criteria in an array constant like this: { "complete...

Related functions

Excel SUMIF Function

The Excel SUMIF function returns the sum of cells that meet a single condition. Criteria can be applied to dates, numbers, and text. The SUMIF function supports logical operators (>,,=) and wildcards (*,?) for partial matching....

Excel SUMIFS Function

SUMIFS is a function to sum cells that meet multiple criteria. SUMIFS can be used to sum values when adjacent cells meet criteria based on dates, numbers, and text. SUMIFS supports logical operators (>,...

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

Exceljet

Quick, clean, and to the point

Sum if cells contain specific text

Alternative with SUMIFS

Excel Formula Training

Download 100+ Important Excel Functions

Excel video training