# COUNTIFS Function

The COUNTIFS function is one of the statistical functions. It is used to count the number of the selected cells based on multiple criteria.

The COUNTIFS function syntax is:

COUNTIFS(criteria-range-1, criteria-1, [criteria-range-2, criteria-2], ...)

where

criteria-range-1 is the first selected range of cells to apply the criteria-1 to. It is a required argument.

criteria-1 is the first condition that must be met. It is applied to the criteria-range-1 and used to determine the cells in the criteria-range-1 to count. It can be a value entered manually or included into the cell you make reference to. It is a required argument.

criteria-range-2, criteria-2, ... are additional ranges of cells and their corresponding criteria. These arguments are optional. You can add up to 127 ranges and corresponding criteria.

Note: you can use wildcard characters when specifying criteria. The question mark "?" can replace any single character and the asterisk "*" can be used instead of any number of characters. If you want to find a question mark or asterisk, type a tilde (~) before the character.

To apply the COUNTIFS function,

1. select the cell where you wish to display the result,
2. click the Insert Function icon situated at the top toolbar,
   or right-click within a selected cell and select the Insert Function option from the menu,
   or click the icon situated at the formula bar,
3. select the Statistical function group from the list,
4. click the COUNTIFS function,
5. enter the required arguments separating them by commas,
6. press the Enter button.

The result will be displayed in the selected cell.