Counting dates and initials within one cell?

[BluesFanUK]

I have a range of cells (A4-A200) with a series of different dates in, and each date has an initial after it to say who entered that date (This is all in one cell), so for example, A4 is "24/02/2011 JT".

The problem I have is I need to count these cells, but I can't use the general =counta formula as in other cells I have 'Awaiting reference' or 'Awaiting Invoice', I don't want to count them in my total number.

I'd just like to be able to count cells that contain a date and an initial in, however i'm not sure how to go about this. There are only three initials (JT, KC, PH) but alot of different dates. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

How about?

=COUNTIF(A4:A200,"*/*/*")

or?

=COUNTIF(A4:A200,"??/??/???? ??")

 

[JackDanIce]

Hi,

Your date and initials cell appears to always be of string length 13, whilst the others are 18 and 16 respectively.

You could use:

=SUMPRODUCT(--(LEN(A4:A200)=13))

See: http://excel.bigresource.com/Track/excel-a3GAJOhf/

 

[Misca]

Try:

=COUNTIF(A4:A200,"*JT")+COUNTIF(A4:A200,"*KC")+COUNTIF(A4:A200,"*PH")

 

[BluesFanUK]

How about?

=COUNTIF(A4:A200,"*/*/*")

or?

=COUNTIF(A4:A200,"??/??/???? ??")

Works like an absolute charm.

Thank you to everyone for all your prompt replies, I shall check each one to see which fits best.