COLUMNS Function Examples – Excel, VBA, & Google Sheets

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This Tutorial demonstrates how to use the Excel COLUMNS Function in Excel to count the number of columns.

COLUMNS Main Function

COLUMNS Function Overview

The COLUMNS Function Calculates the number of columns in an array.

To use the COLUMNS Excel Worksheet Function, select a cell and type:

columns formula syntax

(Notice how the formula inputs appear)

COLUMNS function Syntax and inputs:

=COLUMNS(array)

array – Count the number of columns in this array.

COLUMNS Function 

The COLUMNS Function returns the number of columns in a given cell reference.

=COLUMNS(T4)

COLUMNS EX 01

COLUMNS Function – Cell Range

You can also enter a cell range and it will return the total number of columns in it.

=COLUMNS(R3:U7)

COLUMNS EX 02

COLUMNS Function – Array Constant

You can also count the number of columns in a given array constant.

=COLUMNS({1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9})

COLUMNS EX 03

 

COLUMNS Function in Google Sheets

The COLUMNS Function works exactly the same in Google Sheets as in Excel:

COLUMNS Google Function

Additional Notes

Use the COLUMNS Function to count the number of columns in a range of cells.

To count the number of rows, use the ROWS Function.