I am looking for a criterion to use in `=countif(range_of_formulas, [criterion])` that will identify non-blank results of formulas.
I've found quite a few of those, like `"<>"` , `"<>"&""` , `"<>"""` , `">"""` , `"*"` and more (e.g. on SO [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/772225/how-do-i-get-countifs-to-select-all-non-blank-cells-in-excel) and [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22362502/using-countifs-to-count-blank-when-cell-has-a-formula)). 
But each criterion seems to work only in some situations and not others, and they **all fail** in the following situation:

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yZ2WK.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yZ2WK.png)
*columns A and B have my original data. Column D presents results of the formulas you see in column C. Column F shows results of `countif` using different criteria (as shown in column E) to count the non-blank results in column D. None of them arrive at the right count - 5.*

In my research (and in answers to this question, before I edited to narrow it down) I've seen many workarounds that would get the right count.
But what I am asking is if there is a criterion that would work in `countif`, or if `countif` **cannot reliably count non blank formula results?**  

(or maybe someone can say under which conditions it can or can't be used).