COUNTIF not counting

[ProblemFinder]

I am running Excel 03 on XP SP3.
So, I am trying to count the number of cells that begin with a "7" in a certain column. The data I'm looking for includes "701", "702"..."709", "70A" and "70L". I am using =COUNTIF(D3:D65535,"=7*"), but the function only seems to be counting "70A" and "70L" cells. In case it helps, the data for the last two types is automatically aligned to the left while the rest is aligned to the right.
I am pretty sure the problem has something to do with the fact that the last two are strings and the rest are numbers, but I'm not sure how to work around it. Any help is always appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Aladin Akyurek]

I am running Excel 03 on XP SP3.
So, I am trying to count the number of cells that begin with a "7" in a certain column. The data I'm looking for includes "701", "702"..."709", "70A" and "70L". I am using =COUNTIF(D3:D65535,"=7*"), but the function only seems to be counting "70A" and "70L" cells. In case it helps, the data for the last two types is automatically aligned to the left while the rest is aligned to the right.
I am pretty sure the problem has something to do with the fact that the last two are strings and the rest are numbers, but I'm not sure how to work around it. Any help is always appreciated.
Thanks.

The wildcard * does not apply to true numbers. Try the following instead:

=SUMPRODUCT((LEFT(D3:D65535,1)="7")+0)

 

[ProblemFinder]

Awesome, that worked! Thanks for the quick reply.
Now to read up on SUMPRODUCT...

 

[Aladin Akyurek]

Awesome, that worked! Thanks for the quick reply.
Now to read up on SUMPRODUCT...

You are welcome. Thanks for providing feedback.