Getting Excel to count the number of repititions in a column?

August 15, 2008 5:32 PM

Excel Filter : I've got a list of a lot of names. All the names are in one column with a different name on each row. The names repeat a varying number of times. How can I get Excel to count how many times each name repeats and then put that number in a column next to the name?

Basically, each row is an entry with a name and a few other various pieces of information. Some names have as many as 8 entries, and some only have 1 or 2. In a column next to each name I need Excel to put how many entries there are for that name (ie, how many times it repeats throughout the database). The COUNTA function does something like this, but I have to do it one name at a time, and I'm working with a spreadsheet that contains thousands of names. How can I get excel to do this automatically?

posted by Autarky to computers & internet (3 comments total)

If I follow you:

=countif(A:A,A1)

will tell you the number of instances of whatever's in A1 in column A. Stick that in column B and fill down.
posted by pompomtom at 5:38 PM on August 15, 2008

Take a look at ASAP Utilities. A free add on to excel that does a lot of these types of things. Specifically under information it has a lot of counting functions.
posted by mss at 5:57 PM on August 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

the COUNTIF function worked. Thanks a ton.
posted by Autarky at 6:11 PM on August 15, 2008