COUNTIF function syntax. The syntax of the COUNTIF function is COUNTIF(range,criterion) . Range is the range of cells in which you want to count cells meeting a given criterion. Criterion is a number, date, or expression that determines whether to count a given cell in the range.he COUNT function counts the number of cells in a range containing a numeric value. For example, the formula COUNT(B5:C14) in cell C2 displays 9 because nine cells (the cells in C5:C13) in the range B5:C14 contain numbers. (See Figure 2.).