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Example of COUNTIFS with variable table column in Excel

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To use COUNTIFS with a variable table column, you can use INDEX and MATCH to find and retrieve the column for COUNTIFS. See example below:

Formula

=COUNTIFS(INDEX(Table,0,MATCH(name,Table[#Headers],0)),criteria))

Example of COUNTIFS with variable table column in Excel

Explanation

In the example shown, the formula in H5 is:

=COUNTIFS(INDEX(Table1,0,MATCH(G5,Table1[#Headers],0)),"x")

How this formula works

First, for context, it’s important to note that you can use COUNTIFS with a regular structured reference like this:

=COUNTIFS(Table1[Swim],"x")

This is a much simpler formula, but you can’t copy it down column H, because the column reference won’t change.

Worked Example:   Count unique text values with criteria

The example on this page therefore is meant to show one way to set up a formula that references a table with a variable column reference.

Working from the inside out, the MATCH function is used to find the position of the column name listed in column G:

MATCH(G5,Table1[#Headers],0)

MATCH uses the value in G5 as lookup value, the headers in Table1 for array, and 0 for match type to force an exact match. The result for G5 is 2, which goes into INDEX as the column number:

INDEX(Table1,0,2,0))

Notice row number has been set to zero, which causes INDEX to return the entire column, which is C5:C13 in this example.

Worked Example:   How to convert text string to array in Excel

This reference goes into COUNTIFS normally:

=COUNTIFS(C5:C13,"x")

COUNTIFS counts cells that contain “x”, and returns the result, 5 in this case.

When the formula is copied down column H, INDEX and MATCH return the correct column reference to COUNTIFS at each row.

Worked Example:   Basic text sort formula in Excel

Alternative with INDIRECT

The INDIRECT function can also be used to set up a variable column reference like this:

=COUNTIFS(INDIRECT("Table1["&G5&"]"),"x")

Note: INDIRECT is a volatile function and can cause performance problems in larger or more complicated workbooks.

Here, the structured reference is assembled as text, and INDIRECT evaluates the text as a proper cell reference.

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