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How to Count Number of Occurrences in Google Sheets

by Tutor Aspire

You can use the =UNIQUE() and =COUNTIF() functions to count the number of occurrences of different values in a column in Google Sheets.

The following step-by-step example shows how to do so.

Step 1: Enter the Data

First, let’s enter the names for some professional basketball teams in column A:

Step 2: Find the Unique Values in the Column

Next, let’s use the =UNIQUE() function to create a list of every unique team name in column A:

Note that this function creates an array of unique values by default.

Step 3: Count the Occurrence of Each Unique Value

Next, let’s use the =COUNTIF() function to count the number of occurrences of each unique team name:

Note that we simply copy and pasted the formula in cell E2 to each of the remaining cells in column E.

From the output we can see:

  • The team name ‘Hornets’ occurs 1 time in column A.
  • The team name ‘Hawks’ occurs 3 times in column A.
  • The team name ‘Spurs’ occurs 5 times in column A.

And so on.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in Google Sheets:

How to Find Outliers in Google Sheets
How to Sum Values by Category in Google Sheets
How to Perform a Median IF Function in Google Sheets

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