{ "category": "Statistical functions", "display_name": "COUNTA", "entry_kind": "built_in_function", "eval_api": { "method": "POST", "url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/api/eval" }, "function_id": "FUNC.COUNTA", "implementation_state": { "answer_bank": { "excel_builds": [ "20430" ], "larger_numeric": 0, "last_bit": 0, "matched": 1212, "other_mismatch": 0, "refused": 0, "rows": 1212, "unread": 0, "worst_ulp": 0 }, "detail": "Recorded: 1,212 in the answer bank and 22 workbook cells.", "dnacalc_commit": "9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87", "in_catalogue": true, "state": "matches", "state_label": "Matches every recorded Excel answer", "summary": "Matches all 1,234 recorded answers", "workbook_corpus": { "cells": 23, "matched": 22, "pending": 1 } }, "implementations": [ { "commit": "9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87", "flavour": "excel-compatibility-candidate", "language": "Rust", "name": "CalcFunc", "own_code": [ "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc/blob/9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87/crates/calc-func/src/catalogue/aggregate.rs#L101-L101", "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc/blob/9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87/crates/calc-func/src/catalogue/aggregate.rs#L395-L425" ], "repository": "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc", "shared_code": [ "catalogue/aggregate::aggregate", "catalogue/aggregate::finite", "catalogue/aggregate::holds_held_arrays", "catalogue/aggregate::read_through_held_arrays", "catalogue/aggregate::flatten", "catalogue/aggregate::read_held_references", "catalogue/aggregate::each_value", "catalogue/aggregate::read_values", "catalogue/aggregate::reader", "catalogue/aggregate::read_reference" ], "source": "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc/blob/9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87/crates/calc-func/src/catalogue/aggregate.rs#L101-L101", "state": "matches", "suite": null, "summary": "Matches all 1,234 recorded answers" } ], "json_url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/api/functions/FUNC.COUNTA.json", "name": "COUNTA", "notes": [], "schema": "efh.function-reference/v1", "section_order": [ "what-it-does", "try-it", "quirks", "how-to-implement", "version-differences", "alternatives" ], "sections": { "alternatives": "\n### Relationships\n\n\n- **`COUNT`** — the numeric-only counterpart, and the comparison Microsoft's own page\n draws: use `COUNT` if you do not need to count logical values, text, or error values. `COUNT`\n applies a coercion policy; `COUNTA` applies a classification. On a clean numeric column they\n agree; on any real column they do not, and the difference is the diagnostic.\n- **[COUNTBLANK](FUNC.COUNTBLANK.md)** — the complement, except that it is not a complement. Both\n count a cell holding `\"\"`. See the arithmetic note above.\n- **`COUNTIF` / `COUNTIFS`** — the conditional counters\n Microsoft's page points to. Note that `COUNTIF(range,\"<>\")` is *not* a `COUNTA` substitute: it\n runs the criteria matcher with its own blank-handling rules rather than the non-emptiness\n predicate.\n- **`ROWS`/`COLUMNS`** — the shape questions. `ROWS(r)*COLUMNS(r) − COUNTA(r)` counts truly empty\n cells and is not the same as `COUNTBLANK(r)`, again because of empty text.\n- **Confused with**: `COUNTA` as a data-quality measure. A column of `#N/A` is fully populated\n according to `COUNTA`.\n\n\n", "how-to-implement": "\n### Notes for implementers\n\n2. **Empty text is text.** A zero-length string is a Text value and counts. This is the rule most\n often got wrong, and it must be decided at the value-kind level, not by asking whether the string\n renders as something.\n3. **Do not fold errors.** An incoming error is a value to count, not a result to propagate. This is\n an explicit per-family exception to the universal error-propagation discipline\n ([chapter 02](../model/02-coercion-and-lifting.md)) and needs to be declared, not inherited.\n4. **Distinguish Missing from Empty at the boundary even though they agree here.** They agree for\n `COUNTA` and disagree for other members of the counting cluster; conflating them upstream makes\n the other functions unimplementable.\n\n\n", "quirks": "\n### Result and edge cases\n\n\nReturns `Number` — a non-negative integer count. It never returns an error on account of the data.\n\n- **`COUNTA()` of a range with nothing in it** is `0`, not an error.\n- **Direct arguments versus scanned cells.** `COUNTA(\"\")` and a cell containing `\"\"` are both\n counted, so unlike the aggregates `COUNTA` shows no direct-versus-scan asymmetry\n ([chapter 02](../model/02-coercion-and-lifting.md)). That is a consequence of the predicate never\n attempting a coercion at all.\n\nThe value kind returned is always Number even when nothing was counted, so `ISNUMBER(COUNTA(...))`\nis always `TRUE` and cannot be used as a guard.\n\n\n\n### Errors\n\n\n`COUNTA` has no documented data-dependent error conditions — that is the point of it.\n\n", "sources": "- Handbook call-model chapters [01 The value universe](../model/01-value-universe.md) (value kinds,\n Missing versus Empty, the fourteen error codes) and\n [02 Coercion and lifting](../model/02-coercion-and-lifting.md) (error propagation as a per-family\n declaration; the direct-argument versus range-scan distinction).\n- Handbook projections `data/functions/FUNC.COUNTA.json` (arity, `ReductionFold` error-collapse\n profile, aggregate dual policy) and `data/presence/FUNC.COUNTA.json`.\n\n\n", "version-differences": "The recorded environments below distinguish a reading from a same-input comparison. Counts describe captured inputs in each environment; overlapping captures and comparisons are not totals of unique worksheet calls.\n\n| Excel 16.0 build | Platform and CPU | Captured inputs |\n|---|---|---:|\n| 20430 | Windows, 64-bit, CPU not recorded | 1,212 |\n\nThe record contains no same-input comparison between these environments. Reading different inputs on different builds does not establish either a version change or cross-build agreement.\n\n[Recorded environments and comparison details](https://github.com/DnaCalc/ExcelFunctionsHandbook/blob/5dc75391aa5125ccc5abdb095da85950980d6fd8/content/evidence/environments/FUNC.COUNTA.json).", "what-it-does": "\n`COUNTA(value1, [value2], …)` counts the arguments and scanned cells that are **not empty**.\n\nThe predicate is a single question asked of each value: *is anything here?* It is not \"is this a\nnumber\", not \"does this coerce to a number\", and not \"does this display something\". Microsoft's\npage states it as counting cells containing any type of information, \"including error values and\nempty text\" — and, explicitly, not counting truly empty cells.\n\nThat gives the following classification, which is the whole function:\n\n| Value | Counted? |\n|---|---|\n| Number, including `0` | yes |\n| Text, including the empty string `\"\"` | yes |\n| Logical `TRUE` / `FALSE` | yes |\n| Error value, e.g. `#DIV/0!` | yes |\n| A formula that returns `\"\"` | yes — the cell contains a formula |\n| A genuinely empty cell | no |\n| An omitted argument slot | no |\n\nTwo consequences are worth stating because they are where readers are surprised.\n\n**`COUNTA` counts errors.** It is the only common counting function that does. This is what makes\n`COUNTA` useful as a \"how many cells have been filled in\" measure and useless as a \"how much good\ndata do I have\" measure. `COUNT` answers the second question.\n\n**`COUNTA` counts empty text.** A cell holding `=IF(A1>0,\"x\",\"\")` is counted whether or not the\ncondition held, because the cell holds a formula and the formula published a text value — a\nzero-length one. This is the single most common cause of `COUNTA` disagreeing with what a human sees\non the screen, and it is documented. Its mirror image is [COUNTBLANK](FUNC.COUNTBLANK.md), which\ncounts `\"\"` as blank; the two functions therefore both count the same cell, and\n`COUNTA(r) + COUNTBLANK(r)` exceeds the cell count of `r` by the number of empty-text cells. That\nis not a defect in either function — it is the documented consequence of two different definitions\nof \"blank\" living in one product.\n\n\n\n### Arguments\n\n| Argument | Meaning | Optional |\n|---|---|---|\n| `value1` | The first value, range, array or reference to examine | no |\n| `value2`, … | Up to 254 further such arguments | yes |\n\nThe commonly misunderstood position is that there isn't one — every position behaves identically.\nWhat *does* differ is how a value arrives. An omitted slot (`COUNTA(1,,2)`) delivers the Missing\nmarker and contributes nothing; an empty *cell* reached through a range delivers Empty and likewise\ncontributes nothing. The two are different kinds arriving by different routes at the same answer\nhere ([chapter 01](../model/01-value-universe.md)), and `COUNTA` is one of the few functions where\nthey agree.\n\n\n" }, "signature": { "display": "COUNTA(value1, [value2], ...)", "parameters": [ { "description": null, "name": "value1", "optional": false, "repeats": false }, { "description": null, "name": "value2", "optional": true, "repeats": true } ], "trailing_repeats": true }, "sources": { "metadata": { "admission": { "label": "implemented", "reason": null }, "arity": { "max": 255, "min": 1 }, "category": "Statistical functions", "classification": { "arg_preparation_profile": "ValuesOnlyPreAdapter", "coercion_lift_profile": "AggregateDirectAndRangeDualPolicy", "determinism_class": "Deterministic", "error_collapse_profile": "ReductionFold", "fec_dependency_profile": "None", "host_interaction_class": "None", "kernel_signature_class": "NumsToNum", "rich_value_usage": "RichBlind", "surface_fec_dependency_profile": "RefOnly", "thread_safety_class": "SafePure", "volatility_class": "NonVolatile" }, "descriptions": { "long": null, "short": "How many of the values are not empty", "short_source": "dna-calc-own" }, "docs": { "english_description": "Counts how many values are in the list of arguments", "microsoft_url": "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/counta-function-7dc98875-d5c1-46f1-9a82-53f3219e2509" }, "entry_kind": "built_in_function", "localized_family_names": null, "localized_names": [ { "locale": "ar-SA", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "bg-BG", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "cs-CZ", "name": "POČET2" }, { "locale": "da-DK", "name": "TÆLV" }, { "locale": "de-DE", "name": "ANZAHL2" }, { "locale": "el-GR", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "en-AU", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "en-GB", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "en-US", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "es-ES", "name": "CONTARA" }, { "locale": "et-EE", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "fi-FI", "name": "LASKE.A" }, { "locale": "fr-FR", "name": "NBVAL" }, { "locale": "he-IL", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "hr-HR", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "hu-HU", "name": "DARAB2" }, { "locale": "id-ID", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "it-IT", "name": "CONTA.VALORI" }, { "locale": "ja-JP", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "ko-KR", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "lt-LT", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "lv-LV", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "nb-NO", "name": "ANTALLA" }, { "locale": "nl-NL", "name": "AANTALARG" }, { "locale": "pl-PL", "name": "ILE.NIEPUSTYCH" }, { "locale": "pt-BR", "name": "CONT.VALORES" }, { "locale": "pt-PT", "name": "CONTAR.VAL" }, { "locale": "ro-RO", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "ru-RU", "name": "СЧЁТЗ" }, { "locale": "sk-SK", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "sl-SI", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "sr-Latn-RS", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "sv-SE", "name": "ANTALV" }, { "locale": "th-TH", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "tr-TR", "name": "BAĞ_DEĞ_DOLU_SAY" }, { "locale": "uk-UA", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "vi-VN", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "zh-CN", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "zh-HK", "name": "COUNTA" }, { "locale": "zh-TW", "name": "COUNTA" } ], "signature": { "display": "COUNTA(value1, [value2], ...)", "parameters": [ { "description": null, "name": "value1", "optional": false, "repeats": false }, { "description": null, "name": "value2", "optional": true, "repeats": true } ], "trailing_repeats": true }, "surface_name": "COUNTA", "version_marker": null, "xlcall": { "code": "169", "symbol": "xlfCounta" } }, "microsoft": "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/counta-function-7dc98875-d5c1-46f1-9a82-53f3219e2509" }, "try_it": { "formula": "=COUNTA(1,,2)" }, "url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/functions/COUNTA.html", "variants": [], "versions": [ { "behaviour": "1,212 captured inputs are indexed for this environment. Capture dates: 2026-09-29 to 2026-09-29. This is a reading count, not a comparison with another build.", "excel_build": "16.0 build 20430", "platform": "Windows, 64-bit, CPU not recorded", "sources": [ "https://github.com/DnaCalc/ExcelFunctionsHandbook/blob/5dc75391aa5125ccc5abdb095da85950980d6fd8/content/evidence/environments/FUNC.COUNTA.json" ] } ] }