If Cell Contains This Or That Excel Formula

In the example shown, the formula in C5 is: Note that we are also using the asterisk (*) as a wildcard for zero or more characters on either side of the substrings. This is what allows COUNTIF to count the substrings anywhere in the text (i.e. this provides the “contains” behavior). Because we are getting back an array from COUNTIF, we use the SUM function to sum all items in the array. The result goes into the IF function as the “logical test”. Any positive number will be evaluated as TRUE, so you can supply any values you like for value if true and value if false.

Dave Bruns

Hi - I’m Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.