topic COUNT function includes cells with text in Desktop

COUNT function includes cells with text

Cymbolz — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 23:16:16 GMT

Hello,

I am puzzled by the behavior of the DAX function COUNT.

Am expecting it to behave like Excel's count() function, in that it returns the count of cells with numbers but not text.

The Reference Documentation indicates this too, "The COUNT function counts the number of cells in a column that contain numbers."

I see further info stating "If the row contains text that cannot be translated into a number, the row is not counted."

I've tested in Excel using both Power Pivot and DAX Studio, and in PBI Desktop. In all cases, a column of type text with only text values (that couldn't possible be translated to a number) is returning a count equal to the number of rows / cells. I expect zero as a result. Am I missing something obvious, or has the behaviour changed / always been like this just not properly documented?

Eg measure: Count Name:=COUNT('Table'[name])

Re: COUNT function includes cells with text

Greg_Deckler — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 02:59:22 GMT

I can confirm your results. I also believe that the behavior has changed as it used to not count text and you had to use COUNTA as I recall.

Re: COUNT function includes cells with text

Cymbolz — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 05:37:46 GMT

Thanks Greg_Deckler, glad it wasn't just me seeing this.

Would appreciate if a few others can confirm the same.

Thus, it would seem MS have changed the behaviour but not any documentation. Wonder how many people wrote code relying on the previous functionality??? And maybe not even realise it's changed.

Re: COUNT function includes cells with text

v-jiascu-msft — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 02:41:32 GMT

Hi Cymbolz,

I have reported this issue to the Product Team to investigate more. I will update here later.

Best Regards,

Dale

Re: COUNT function includes cells with text

v-jiascu-msft — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 06:02:52 GMT

Hi,

The report ID is: 61341249.

Best Regards,

Dale

Re: COUNT function includes cells with text

v-jiascu-msft — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 11:48:40 GMT

Hi Cymbolz,

The document will be updated.

Best Regards,

Dale