countif based on first letter in a range of cells

[gberg]

I have a list that references project numbers. These project numbers typically start with a number followed by a letter or two numbers followed by a letter but the letter could possibly be the 3rd or 4th characters. The goal would be to identify the first letter in the cell and use that as the criteria for the "countif" function. I would like to accomplish this without a "helper column"

Here is an example of the list and the desired output

81D0024
81D0025
81D0026
7W1013
7W1020
81W0001
7P1026
7P1027
81P0001
81P0002
	D	3​
	W	3​
	P	4​

Thanks for any help!

Greg

 

[Fluff]

Glad we could help & thanks for the feedback.

 

[DanteAmor]

This example 81P0001A doesn't work for me with Fluff's formula.
Try this:

varios 28ene2022.xlsm
	A	B	C	D	E
1			First Letter	Count	Count
2	81D0024		A	1	2
3	81D0025		D	3	3
4	81D0026		W	3	3
5	7W1013		P	4	4
6	7W1020DXP
7	81W0001
8	7P1026A
9	7PA1027
10	81P0001D
11	81P0001A
12	81A5555
Hoja2

Cell Formulas
Range	Formula
D2:D5	D2	=COUNT(IF(LEFT(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE($A$2:$A$12,"0",""),"1",""),"2",""),"3",""),"4",""),"5",""),"6",""),"7",""),"8",""),"9",""),1)=C2,1))
E2:E5	E2	=COUNTIFS(A:A,"*"&C2&"???*")
Press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to enter array formulas.

 

[Fluff]

This example 81P0001A doesn't work for me with Fluff's formula.

Yes it does. But it's counting 7PA1027

 

[DanteAmor]

But it's counting 7PA1027

Let's hope there are no cases like that or similar.