Excel asterisk wildcard not working 365. 2 and my current wildcard is {"1.

Excel asterisk wildcard not working 365 Here we discuss how to use the three types of wildcards with examples and downloadable excel template. The TRANSPOSE function is optional and used here only to convert the result from XLOOKUP to a vertical array. My data includes values like: 1. One such character is an asterisk. Here's my situation: I have two columns. Replace Sep 16, 2008 · I know I can use wildcards in my count: =COUNTIF ($D$10:$S$25,"GOOD*") But how can I combine the contents of the referenced cell with the wildcard? Note: This does not work: =COUNTIF ($D$10:$S$25,E26+*") I have Office365, so the function itself works. Please help as this is driving me crazy, it's not critical as I can work around. Guide to Wildcard in Excel. When and Why to Use It? In the realm of Excel, the tilde (~) is a lesser-known yet powerful character that serves a specific and valuable purpose. Sep 26, 2021 · In MS Excel, I'm trying to make a wildcard search using the SUMIF function. Use wildcard characters as comparison criteria for text filters and when you're searching and replacing content. Dec 16, 2023 · Wildcard characters can be used within the Find and Replace tool, but what if you want to actually search for those wildcard characters themselves? That's where the judicious use of the tilde character comes into play. These can also be used in the Conditional Formatting rules that use the "Only format cells that contain specific text" criteria. May 26, 2024 · Final Thoughts Wildcards are a powerful tool for working with text data in Excel. For example, if it finds (a), it should remove it, if it finds (bb), it should remove it. Explore basics, alternatives, uses, filtration, and troubleshooting. Apr 7, 2025 · We explain different types of Excel VLOOKUP wildcard. and I want to replace all of these to be *1. May 6, 2020 · Re: vlookup with wildcard not working thank you very much this has been bugging me for ages. Dec 28, 2024 · ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. As you can see exploration of similar situation in the thread: Sometimes asterisk wildcard does not work! Hope these can help you. But it will not see "no characters". This tip (13948) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. Every day I generate a spreadsheet from our attendance software and it contains A* and T* (the * does not represent a wildcard). When you use the Find and Replace dialog box to find or replace a character such as a tilde (~), an asterisk (*), or a question mark (?), you must add a tilde (~) before the character in the Find what box. The Asterisk Wildcard: Any Number of Characters The first of the two wildcards in Microsoft Excel is an asterisk, which represents any number of characters, including no characters. So if you do not know what a name starts with you could search for “*smith” and get results for all records that contain “smith” not … Continue reading Advanced Find Tip: Using the Wildcard Jan 12, 2014 · Question Mark “? ” and asterisk “ * ” are the wildcard characters in Excel, they can be used in Find/Replace, Search, Match, and lookup functions, just to name a few. A The asterisk (*) wildcard for substituting any number of characters The asterisk wildcard, denoted by . Nov 16, 2022 · Hello, I cannot get the SUMIF wildcards working correctly. You either use SEARCH to see if the text exists within the other string, or COUNTIF using asterisks around the text. Aug 15, 2024 · In this article, i have demonstrated two methods including Find and Replace & Filter option in excel find * character not wildcard. Jun 11, 2023 · Learn how to find and replace wildcard characters in Excel as normal text using tilde special characters. Jun 14, 2016 · The way Excel implements the * wildcard is fundamentally wrong, in my opinion. Dec 11, 2013 · Forum Microsoft Office Application Help - Excel Help forum Excel Formulas & Functions [SOLVED] Wildcard not working in my COUNTIFS The use of AI tools (e. Jun 9, 2017 · I have Excel 2016, fast ring version 1707 build 8231. Here, I will show you how to use wildcards in Excel. Tilde (~): This wildcard is an escape character, used preceding the question mark (?) or asterisk mark (*). Jun 23, 2024 · Also, your VLOOKUP() function is not working because, the lookup value you have is a string of words while the keywords is one single word here. But not in all cases. You can use the COUNTIF or SUMPRODUCT functions to count cells with the asterisks. The first one in my report works perfectly; it's a dropdown where you select an employee name and a table populates their individual metrics based on which employee is selectedif you select the wildcard asterisk in the data validation it reflects the entire teams metrics. I have verified the formula without the wildcards without issues. Nov 21, 2011 · No, there is no CONTAINS function in Excel, nor INSTRING, although this is available as Instr in VBA. This guide will walk you through exactly how to find, count, and filter for literal asterisks in your spreadsheets. Apr 2, 2025 · In File Explorer, the asterisk (*) is used as a wildcard to represent any number of characters, but the percentage sign (%) is not a standard wildcard for file searching. Jul 6, 2024 · We have discussed 5 methods to use the wildcard in IF statement in Excel. Example Wildcard Usage Jul 30, 2012 · Re: problem with using asterisk as wildcard in conditional formatting HI nsterng1, See the attached file where I have applied the conditional formatting when word "cash" is found in the column, the entire row turns as yellow :- conditional formatting - cash. Here are some examples. 2 and my current wildcard is {"1. There are three Excel wildcard characters (asterisk, question mark, and tilde) that can get some amazing stuff done in Excel. May 30, 2025 · Wildcards only work with text, so Excel automatically converts numbers to text when using wildcard patterns. Understanding Different Wildcards When working with Excel, wildcards can be incredibly useful for searching and manipulating data. The use of AI tools (e. That's WRONG. Aug 30, 2024 · An asterisk with an “e” tells the Excel filter to show every value with an “e” at the end. Notice that the wildcard search is not case sensitive and it will count any instance of the word, even where it’s not a word on its own like in the case of ‘Pineapples’. Here we discuss 3 types of wildcard characters - Asterisk (*), Question Mark(?) & Tilde(~) in excel along with examples. IF statement with a Wildcard not working, workaround? Hi All I need help. 2 ? Question Mark: Apr 25, 2014 · Hello everyone. I'm new here and really could use assistance with a formula in Excel. What if you need to count the number of asterisks in a range of cells, however? Jul 3, 2024 · This article discusses three methods for using SUMIFS with a wildcard in Excel, as well as three other options. As you've discovered, SUBSTITUTE does not support wildcards. This allows you to use a * to represent any number of characters. Use the TEXT () function to convert numbers before applying wildcard operations for consistent results. Nov 5, 2014 · I am doing a vlookup. In this blog, we will explore how to escape characters in Excel to ensure they are interpreted correctly. SUMIFS ER function - Finance & Operations | Dynamics 365 Learn about how the SUMIFS Electronic reporting (ER) function is used, including syntax strings, arguments, return values, usage notes, and examples. Apr 11, 2025 · 3. Download our practice workbook for free, and exercise! Excel Symbol That Change How Formulas Work Download in hi-res: https://bit. 1 1. Select the range of cells you wish to work with, and then, in the Menu, go to Edit > Find and Replace. The asterisk represents any number of characters while the question mark represents a single character. In other words, if the cell value contains the text "my specific text", anywhere in the cell value, I Jun 8, 2023 · Wildcards in Google Sheets work slightly differently. Mar 14, 2023 · Everything you need to know about wildcards: what wildcard characters Excel recognizes, and how to best use them with built-in features and in formulas with text and numbers. May 11, 2024 · To perform a partial match with XLOOKUP, supply 2 for the match mode argument to allow wildcards. Sep 21, 2024 · Use a logical AND or OR in a SUM+IF statement - Microsoft 365 Apps Describes how to use a logical AND or OR in a SUM+IF statement in Excel. =SUMPRODUCT (-- (N18:N22="*Jan*"),K18:K22,L18:L22) The output for the above formula ought to be 80, but Excel's output is 0. 1 day ago · The asterisk () in Excel is a wildcard character used in formulas and searches to represent any number of characters. Master asterisk, question mark & tilde wildcards for efficient lookups. It's just that wildcards don't seem to be working. Is the symbol * a wildcard in excel? If there a way around this or do I need to amend my system generated data to replace * with something else? Jun 30, 2010 · An * is a wildcard which is used on strings and strings alone (not numbers). there's one big catch! If you look at the Help file of Excel it states: You can use wildcard characters, such as an asterisk (*) or a question mark (?), in your search criteria: Use the asterisk to find any string of characters. My work-around was to make another row in the lookup table for "Widgets" and put half the products in the first row and the rest in the second. The * should be any characters, including no characters. For example, s*d finds "sad" and "started". Regards, Clark Anonymous Jan 28, 2020, 10:11 AM Jun 21, 2019 · Put a tilde character in front of the asterisk (that is not to be considered a wildcard). ly/excel-symbols 1 * Asterisk: Find all values containing a search word or pattern. Use wildcard characters: In Excel, the asterisk is a wildcard character that represents any number of characters. Asterisk (*): This wildcard is used to find any number of characters preceding or following any character. So today in this post, I’d like to share with you how to use wildcard characters with VLOOKUP. May 9, 2023 · Wildcards consist of two main symbols – asterisk (*) and question mark (?). It's all working fine apart from the *. I need to lookup a value that contained in a cell as a part of string. Master asterisk symbol in Excel for efficient formulas and data searches. When I try to do a find replace of '*12' it replaces everything prior to the *12 since the * is flagged as the wildcard. In this post, you will learn how to use wildcard characters in Excel. I need to create a formula that shows 'overdue' if it is more than 10 days past the jobs completion date. 3 1. Column 1 has names in it, Column 2 has dates (in this very format, no spaces between the characters). Question mark (?) : This wildcard is used to search for any single character. Dec 26, 2012 · Hi, Using the wildcards in Excel can be great but . Jul 29, 2024 · Hi there, my system data uses a * to denote if a cost is billable and when I pull this as a criteria in a SUMIFS formula, it does not work and brings up everything as if this criteria is not considered. May 23, 2010 · If I filter with 2 as the parameter the range is filtered correctly, but it doesn't with the wildcard *. For more about using wildcard characters with the Find and Replace features in Excel, see Find or replace text and numbers on a worksheet. You cannot use the wildcard characters *, ! in a logical test. e. this should have worked the other way around using wildcard. Excel’s wildcard feature enables users to search through large datasets, sort information and apply conditional formatting rules. Feb 12, 2025 · Searching for text in Excel is usually straightforward, but things get tricky when you need to find special characters like the asterisk (*). It is used as an escape character, particularly when dealing with wildcard characters such as the asterisk (*) or the question mark (?), which have special meanings in excel formulas and functions. I’ve searched but can find nothing that seems to answer my question so I’m throwing myself at the mercy of the collective wisdom of this forum. Mar 14, 2023 · When you’re working in large Excel worksheets created from external databases, you’ll find various anomalies and funny characters in between data. If a user is believed to have used such tools to provide a forum answer, sanctions may be imposed. Mar 14, 2023 · The tutorial shows how to make Excel IF statement with wildcard text and get it to work for partial matches. Instead, we can combine the IF function with the COUNTIF function, which does support wildcards. On the face of it should be quite simple but for the life of me I can’t get it to work and I don’t know why. Nov 18, 2014 · Microsoft Excel uses the tilde (~) as a marker to indicate that the next character is a literal. And for this, I have listed 5 real-life examples which can help you to understand this combination. To match special characters like question mark (?), number sign (#), and asterisk (*), put them in square brackets. g. Sep 5, 2017 · I understand the basic use of the vlookup with wildcard but I'm running into a problem lately. Whether you’re counting cells, summing values, or looking up data, wildcards can help you work more efficiently and May 18, 2023 · The IF function doesn't support wildcards directly, so we can't use IF by itself. But what if you actually want to find something that says 2*3 and not 2something3? There is a tricky way to tell Excel that you are really searching for an asterisk or a question mark. The table it is linking to is as follows C 7 B 8 A 9 A* 10 It all pulls through fine, it gives me 7 if one column contains Mar 25, 2024 · Wildcard characters not working in COUNTIFS function Hi y'all, this was a real brain scratcher for me, I gave up and went to the internet looking for answers. The following is an example: ABSource ValueFormulas in Column BValue Returned In Column… Aug 12, 2024 · 4 Different Methods to Find and Replace Asterisk (*) Character in Excel. Example: You are working with a worksheet with the content in column A. One such character is the asterisk (*) and it can make data analysis challenging. Given there are no strings in A1:A4 setting a criteria of * means there are no valid values in A1:A4 hence zero final result. Here's a simple example of my formula that resides in {Column B}: =IF (A2="*McCaleb",TRUE,FALSE) Here's my array: {Column A} {Column B} Justin McCaleb FALSE Daniel McCaleb FALSE Tori McCaleb FALSE Jeff McCaleb FALSE Renee McCaleb FALSE But, when you combine an asterisk, which is a wildcard character, you can get the student’s marks by just using a partial match. I have attached the excel sheet. The CHARLIST function gives you matches for one or more characters and can include almost any characters in the ANSI character set, including digits. An asterisk in Excel is a wildcard representing characters. Feb 20, 2007 · Hello. xlsx Regards, DILIPandey <click on below 'star' if this helps> DILIPandey, Excel rMVP Wildcard characters are all about searching a text with a partial match. The question mark wildcard (?) For matching text when only a few characters vary This wildcard represents any single character. Oct 11, 2019 · It always works like a charm, but, this year I've added two new categories "P-8" and "T-8" (the number 8 can range from 1-8, hence why i'm trying to use the asterisk) and it's not working with the asterisk. However, for some reason my Excel doesn't think the words in the range are equal to the criteri Take a look at the basics of building an expression. not use * as the wildcard? The asterisk represents zero, one, or more characters, the question mark represents any single character, and the tilde is used as an escape character for literal characters such as ~* for a literal asterisk, ~? for a literal question mark, or ~~ for a literal tilde. So if you have the data (text): 747, 747-100, 747-200 the formula COUNTIF (range,"747*") will return 2, instead of 3. For the best help attach a sample workbook to your post Attention - ExcelForum Rules have been updated as of August 2023. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Dec 8, 2023 · For some operations and functions, Excel allows you to use wild card characters. No problem Nov 26, 2023 · CountIF statement not working when Asterisk is returned as a character from IFERROR I've used a VLOOKUP statement to search a sheet for module codes. 3*"} - which picks up the last two, but not the first. 1000, but I've also tested with the First Release for Current Channel version. Question: How many cells have only one asterisk? Nov 4, 2020 · Hi all. It is very easy to do so! Available wildcards Excel has 3 wildcards you can use in your formulas: Asterisk (*) - zero or more characters Question mark (?) - any one character Tilde (~) - escape for literal character (~*) a literal question mark (~?), or a literal tilde (~~). Apparently, Excel wildcards can only search a certain number of characters. I'm following this guide. In the example shown, the formula in H7 is: =TRANSPOSE((XLOOKUP(H4,D5:D15,B5:E15,"Not found",2))) which performs a wildcard match with the value in H4 and returns all 4 fields as the result. The conditional function like COUNTIF,AND,OR, SEARCH are used here. I cannot get wild cards in a SUMIFS() funciton to work if it is an Ends WIth critera. if you don't mind helping me another issue. Instead, the percent sign is used in other contexts, such as SQL queries. Nov 21, 2011 · Hi, dear EXCEL pros: I’ve used asterisk wildcard in formula before and most of the time they worked perfectly well. Apr 1, 2025 · This is because Excel treats certain symbols as wildcards or operators rather than plain text. Both of the following return… Mar 26, 2019 · Become an Excel wildcard wizard with our comprehensive guide! Learn how to master wildcard characters in Excel for efficient data analysis. There are several different wildcards that can be used, each serving a specific purpose. but I just want to know where i'm going wrong. Mar 25, 2022 · How to add a wildcard in Excel Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with wildcards, but they are something you should review because they really come in handy. Nov 12, 2025 · In short, the asterisk tells Excel to search for any text that fits around your known pattern. I'm trying to set up a conditional format so my cells will be filled if the value includes a specific text string, but I need to use wildcards before and after the specific text string. Although the wildcards * and ? do still work, they may end up giving you unexpected results! An asterisk only represents one character, not multiple characters like it does in Excel. I need my macro to find a string in a column of data and replace/remove any time it finds an open and closed parenthesis and whatever is in between. your help is much appreciated Aug 18, 2009 · Hello. Jun 10, 2025 · Master the meaning of Excel formula symbols like *, @, {}, #, and more so you can use them to write smarter, faster spreadsheets. I am aware the wildcards do not work on numbers but even if I change column data type to "Text" - it still doesn't work correctly. Simply press Ctrl + F and enter the asterisk in the search bar to locate it within your spreadsheet. The supported functions can be found here: Excel Wildcard | Exceljet In your case, there are no natural line breaks in the cell, it's just one long string of text that uses "LI x:" to indicate when a new line should begin? One work around would be to use the Find and Replace. Note that wildcards only work with text, not numbers. The workaround is to use SEARCH and ISNUMBER. Jul 15, 2024 · While working in Excel sheets, sometimes you need to use wildcards for many purposes. Jan 8, 2025 · Unlock faster results in Excel with 7 asterisk hacks, leveraging wildcard characters, syntax, and functions like VLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, and SUMIFS for efficient data analysis and manipulation, streamlining your workflow with expert formula techniques. I work in an attendance office at a school. I’m having a problem using a wildcard in an IF formula. In this guide, we're going to show you how to use Wildcard criteria in Excel formulas. Does anyone know how to not replace everything prior, i. Beyond FILTER, it also works with other functions that use criteria or pattern matching, such as COUNTIF, MATCH, and AVERAGEIF. There will also be solutions covering case sensitivity. Download our practice workbook for free, and exercise! Jul 6, 2024 · You can use some wildcards, like asterisk and question marks, to find and replace data in Excel. By using the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) characters in your formulas, you can perform complex searches and manipulations that would be difficult or impossible with regular text matching. Tilde (~) wildcard is used when we need to find the symbol question mark or asterisk (not as wildcards). When you know only some characters as the finding criteria, then you can use these wildcards. May 15, 2018 · Hopefully you are already aware of the power of using the wildcard in Dynamics 365 searches. The CHARLIST is enclosed in brackets ( [ ]) and can be used with wildcard Jan 24, 2020 · The issue could be caused by wild card doesn’t work in Filter Function that because the wild card * cannot use in comparison operation situation. For example if you are searching a string which ends with question mark. Because the asterisk is a powerful "wildcard" in Excel, searching for it directly doesn't work the way you might expect. 3. We also share examples for each wildcard and explain how to troubleshoot any issues. Here is what I have tried: Selection. Not all functions can execute Wildcards with Excel Apr 24, 2025 · Discover how to use Excel search and replace wildcards to simplify data management, leveraging asterisks, question marks, and tilde characters for precise pattern matching and substitution, enhancing data cleaning and formatting tasks with efficient wildcard searches. Note: wildcards only work with text, not numbers. With a bit of creativity, you will learn in this article how to perform “Begins With”, “Ends With”, “Contains”, and “Does Not Contain” search criteria, so that you can carry out more complex filtering with your dynamic array formulas. We'll cover the Jun 12, 2007 · A lot of cells that have *12, *11, *10, etc. I know this is something to do with it being a wildcard character but I don't know how to fix it. These rules apply to everyone for the benefit of all, please take a moment now to In this video I demonstrate how to perform a wildcard "contains" test in an IF statement. Wildcard characters are incredibly useful for Apr 24, 2021 · I've been using the formula below, but the wildcard doesn't seem to work at all, so I'm figuring I'm doing something wrong. Let's take a look at the three main wildcards and how they can be used. chatGPT, BARD, GPT4 etc) to create forum answers is not permitted. Learn how to use wildcard characters in Excel to save time when working with formulas. To return the first matching record that contains the lookup_value, you need to concatenate an asterisk ("*") to both the start and end of the lookup_value as follows: Jan 6, 2020 · Wildcard represents one or more other characters. The problem I am having is that I wanted to use an IF statement but with a wildcard but now know that is not possible but I don't know a workaround. In Excel Spreadsheet Formulas Finding Concealed Data In Cells sumifs with wildcard not working sumifs with multiple criteria in same column advanced sumifs function in excel sumifs formula Excel Aug 15, 2024 · In this article, i have demonstrated two methods including Find and Replace & Filter option in excel find * character not wildcard. Irrespective of the number of characters that come before “e”. Aug 23, 2022 · Unfortunately, Excel’s Filter function does not perform partial-match or wildcard searches. Jun 5, 2014 · I even tried multiplying (6&"*")* 1 to convert back to a number but it doesn't work :P If I want to exclude a certain number in one of the argument of the SUMIFS formula from above then I would put <>6201, without any quotes, correct? Jul 13, 2024 · Learn how to use wildcards with XLOOKUP in Excel for powerful, flexible data searches. Because of its wild-card nature, finding or replacing actual asterisk characters requires special handling. Example wildcard usage Wildcards only work May 3, 2017 · The asterisk and question mark can be used as a wildcard in the Find dialog. May 12, 2025 · The Wildcards: Asterisk (*) and Question Mark (?) There are two wildcards in Excel, and knowing their purpose is crucial to understanding how wildcards work overall. I need to count the instances that "A*" appears, the actual asterisk character rather than a Guide to Wildcard In Excel. Feb 22, 2020 · Conditional formatting with wildcard is it possible to fill the row with *New* excel Like Aug 31, 2011 · You could simply use a wildcard (an asterisk, *, is a wildcard in Excel) in your COUNTIF formula like this: =COUNTIF(A5:A9,"*apples*") Your result will be 4. Unleash Excel's potential with wildcards! Explore advanced formulas, solve common issues, and boost productivity by using wildcard in excel. So, to count the number of cells with an asterisk either by itself or embedded within other text, use this (or course, change the range as needed) Aug 30, 2024 · Types of wildcards to use with VLOOKUP In Excel, wildcard characters are used to do partial matches *️⃣ Excel supports three different kinds of wildcard characters. Read this guide to learn the techniques to search for asterisk in Excel. Jun 29, 2024 · RSGrayson There were no wildcards used in your original formula. (In bold below) What am I doing wrong? I'm having trouble with lines 5 and 6. Microsoft Excel is the most popular spreadsheet app for database creation, data analysis Mar 17, 2014 · I am building an excel report that uses a couple of data validation filters and formulas that reference them. I’m using a workbook in Excel 2007 to produce duty rotas Aug 12, 2024 · 4 Different Methods to Find and Replace Asterisk (*) Character in Excel. Use the Find function: Excel's Find function allows you to quickly search for specific characters, including asterisks. Excel wildcards Excel supports three wildcards that can be used in formulas: Asterisk (*) - zero or more characters Question mark (?) - any one character Jan 9, 2005 · Wildcard Not Working in IF statement I'm having trouble getting the "*" wildcard to work in my IF statement. ywqipsk jzbxrgpiu qtjnzw otedz pnwv xxi kuoco ilt ddzmzkw cjdocau gtmm ionj kiqun nfyhan egrmo