Home » Posts

Count total characters in a range

If you want to count the total characters in a range of cells, you can do with a formula that uses LEN, along with the SUMPRODUCT function. In the generic form of the formula above, rng represents a range of cells that contain text. In the example, the active cell contains this formula: =SUMPRODUCT(LEN(B3:B6))

April 14, 2025 · 1 min · 75 words · Elizabeth Owens

Table of Contents

Explanation

SUMPRODUCT accepts the range B3:B6 as an array of four cells.

For each cell in the array, LEN calculates the length of the text as a number.

The result is an array that contains 4 numbers.

Excel LEN function

SUMPRODUCT then sums the items in this array and returns the total.

LEN will also count characters in numbers, but number formatting is not included.

SUMPRODUCT Function

The Excel SUMPRODUCT function multipliesrangesorarraystogether and returns the sum of products.

Excel SUMPRODUCT function

Explanation#

SUMPRODUCT Function#

Explanation

SUMPRODUCT Function