How to count number of characters of text in a cell in Excel

If you need to count the total characters in a cell, you can do so using the LEN function.

Formula

=LEN(a1)

Explanation

In the example, the formula in the active cell is:

=LEN(B3)

The LEN function simply counts all characters that appear in a cell. All characters are counted, including space characters. Numbers are also counted in their raw form (i.e. number formatting is not included).