Counting

[Jennifer]

Is there a way to count the number of cells that contain
some text. For example:
Column A
662-01
662-02
662-03
663-01
670-01
690-01
690-02
The count for 662 would be 3, 663 would be 1, and 690
would be 2. If this is possible, is there some way to
count all of the 660's, in this case the answer would be
4. All of the text I want to count follows this formula.
Is counting it this way possible?
Thank you,
Jennifer

 

[Mason]

Jennifer;

To do this , I quickly convert teh text I wan tto numbers
and let Excel work with numbers (its strength) rather
than text.

In column 'B', I put this: =LEFT(A1,3)

In column 'C', I put: =VALUE(J39)

I fill both these down with the Fill Handle to all my
values in column 'A'.

In column 'D', I put =COUNTIF(A1:A7,E1)

in E1, I put '662' or whatever I am interested in.