You have a data range and you should find how many times certain character exists within the data area.

This can be done easily with COUNTIF as follows.

The data range.

Copy the range and select data – data tools – remove duplicates.

Press ok.

The list of 12 values was shortened to 4.

The data range includes unique values D, C, A  and B.

The arguments for COUNTIF are the range where the value is searched and the value which is searched for.

However, if you want to just fast get a number how many times A appears in the data range, we can tackle that with VBA below.

Sub z_count()

Dim cell As Range

Dim arv, cnt

arv = InputBox(“Search term”)

cnt = 0

For Each cell In Selection

If cell.Value = arv Then

cnt = cnt + 1

End If

Next cell

MsgBox arv & “:” & cnt, vbOKOnly, “Search macro”

End Sub

The range selection consists of cell variables. Arv is the value to be searched for. Cnt is the counted value of arv. The data range is browsed through and every time arv is found, that is increasing the value of cnt by one. At the end, the cnt is printed in message box.

Activate the data range and execute the macro.

Select the value to be searched for.

The result is the same with COUNTIF. If you want to list all the values, the COUNTIF is practical. In case you repeat this process many times a day and you just want to get the value, VBA might be the worth of trying.