Excel COUNTIF cell contains a given text (partial match)

Question

I have a conditional formatting with cells like

=COUNTIF(A3:H2663;R5)

If the value entered into R5 is found elsewhere, the box will then turn red.

However, sometimes it's not an exact match, and then it doesn't recognize it. That may be because of an extra figure at the end of the entered number.

So my question is: can I change the formula to make a match, if the cells from A3:H2663 simply contain the value in R5 , and isn't an exact match?

Answer 1

With the COUNTIF() function, you can use wildcard characters in your criteria.

If you want to find any cell value that has the search/criteria value at the very start:

=COUNTIF(A3:H2663, R5 & "*")

If you want to find any cell value that has the search/criteria value anywhere in it:

=COUNTIF(A3:H2663, "*" & R5 & "*")

The * wildard character represents zero or more characters.