countif function doesnt work

[Guest]

I have a column of data which is town names, and I want to count the number
of each town name that occurs in the column.
I am using the function COUNTIF, and the formula is=COUNTIF(B2:B74,B74)
When I type the function in a cell, or use the function Wizard, the range is
in blue, indicating that that is a viable range, and the criteria is in
green, indicating that that is a viable criteria, but when I close the
arguement with a ) bracket, and press either ENTER or Ctrl+Shift+Enter, the
formula is displayed in the cell, not the result.
I have tried entering the criteria in text, with and without " ", and it
still does not work. Any suggestions please?
I am using Excel 2003 SP2

 

[Bondi]

Hi,
It could be that your cell was formated to Text when you entered the
formula.

Maybe if you format the cell to General and then double click the cell
and press enter.

Regards,
Bondi

 

[Guest]

Hi Bondi,
Thank you for your prompt response
That solved the problem, I should have thought of this myself!
Regards
Tim