title: COUNTIF can't count non-blank formula results?
body: <p>I am looking for a criterion to use in <code>=countif(range_of_formulas, [criterion])</code> that will identify non-blank results of formulas.
  I've found quite a few of those, like <code>"&lt;&gt;"</code> , <code>"&lt;&gt;"&amp;""</code> , <code>"&lt;&gt;"""</code> , <code>"&gt;"""</code> , <code>"*"</code> and more (e.g. on SO <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/772225/how-do-i-get-countifs-to-select-all-non-blank-cells-in-excel">here</a> and <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22362502/using-countifs-to-count-blank-when-cell-has-a-formula">here</a>). 
  But each criterion seems to work only in some situations and not others, and they <strong>all fail</strong> in the following situation:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yZ2WK.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yZ2WK.png" alt="enter image description here"></a>
  <em>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 <code>countif</code> 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.</em></p>
  
  <p>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 <code>countif</code>, or if <code>countif</code> <strong>cannot reliably count non blank formula results?</strong><br>
  (or maybe someone can say under which conditions it can or can't be used).</p>