如何计算不为空的单元格

Question

I have a list of down regulated gene probes for two different clones.

I have used the formula =IF(ISERROR(MATCH(F2,$H$2:$H$1670,0)),"",F2) to give me a list of genes that are down regulated in both clones.

However, I now need to count how many there are and when I try to copy and paste the list to try to remove blank cells I am unable to and they disappear as they are formulas.

I have tried using COUNTA to count them but this gives me all of the genes in the left column as technically all middle columns are filled by the formula.

G.Ac down               Shared down regulated   Mc.Ac down 
GENE:JGI_V11_619450303  GENE:JGI_V11_619450303  GENE:JGI_V11_3219080103
GENE:JGI_V11_2644330202                         GENE:JGI_V11_534070103
GENE:JGI_V11_1064490203 GENE:JGI_V11_1064490203 GENE:JGI_V11_3146980103
GENE:JGI_V11_3327160202                         GENE:JGI_V11_3018650102
GENE:JGI_V11_3179550203                         GENE:JGI_V11_3018650202
GENE:JGI_V11_3050490103                         GENE:JGI_V11_3146980203
GENE:JGI_V11_1064490103 GENE:JGI_V11_1064490103 GENE:JGI_V11_2378650103
GENE:JGI_V11_1044440103                         GENE:JGI_V11_2378650303
GENE:JGI_V11_3277080303 GENE:JGI_V11_3277080303 GENE:JGI_V11_3146980303

How do I either get a copy of all the genes that appear in the middle row OR how do I count the number of genes that appear in the middle row?

Answer 1

You can approach this one of two ways:

• Use one formula to count how many genes appear in the middle column, or
• Get a unique list of all genes that appear in the middle column.

I'll show you both solutions, below.

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Use one formula to count the number of populated cells in a column that also has formulas returning "":

You'll want to use the following formula:

=COUNTIF($B$2:$B$10,">*")

^{with $B$2:$B$10 being your range covering your Shared down regulated column (sans the header). Change range locations as needed.}

This formula works by counting all cells in the specified range that have at least one character (done by using the wildcard * within the criteria part of the function).

NOTE: This formula only works on cells that are either formatted as text, or are not numbers. Your data set is perfectly acceptable as your data seems to be all strings.

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Return a unique, contiguous list of values from a single column while ignoring blank or ="" cells:

If you'd rather return a unique list of values from your second column, use the following array formula in F2 (this must be committed using Ctrl + Shift + Enter or it won't work):

=IFERROR(INDEX($B$2:$B$10,MATCH(0,COUNTIF($F$1:$G1,$B$2:$B$10),0)),"")

^{with $B$2:$B$10 being your range covering your Shared down regulated column (sans the header) and $F$1:$G1 being the new column header you created (mine is called Genes List ) to hold this unique list ( see image below ). Change range locations as needed.}

^{Once you commit the formula in the first cell of the newly created column, you can copy the formula down.}

<sup>With respect to $F$1:$G1 , you can either:
- put your new column header into F1 only (but still use $F$1:$G1 in your formula), or
- merge cells F1 and G1 together.</sup>

The key to making sure your new, unique list excludes both blank cells as well as cells holding "" (via a formula return) is to ensure the range argument of the COUNTIF function covers both the header ( F1 ) as well as one blank cell ( G1 ) of your new column. The blank cell ( G1 ) ensures that all blank/empty cells in your data column (column B ) are accounted for, preventing them from leaving gaps in your new list. Wrapping it all up in IFERROR allows you to drag the new range as far down as you want without having to see errors all over the place.