Is there a formula to find one phrase in a selection?

[Guest]

Hey again,

Is there a formula I can use to figure out if there is one specific phrase
in a selection?

I'm updating the attendance prgram at the school that I work at. Every
student has their own attendance sheet in Excel, and each sheet sort of looks
like this:

|Monday|
Period 1:| A | (A=Absent; S=Seat time)
Period 2:| S |
Period 3:| A |

So basically, if they have one or more "S"s, we can count them as being
present for the day. I need the formula to find out if there is an "S" in
that column, and if there is, I need it to type an "S" in the attendance
report, which sort of looks like this:
DATE: |1|2|3|
Student Name |S| | |

Sorry if that got a little complicated. Is there any way to do this?

 

[Guest]

one way

=IF(COUNTIF(B1:B3,"S")>=1,"S","A")
Modify range as needed
HTH

 

[Biff]

Hi!

=IF(COUNTIF(B2:B100,"S"),"S",not_defined)

Not_defined means that you haven't defined what to do if there are no S's.

Do you want an "A" for absent?

=IF(COUNTIF(B2:B100,"S"),"S","A")

Do you want to leave the cell balnk?

=IF(COUNTIF(B2:B100,"S"),"S","")

Biff

 

[Guest]

Oh my god, you guys are brilliant. Thank you so much!

 

[Guest]

Oh, one more question. This is rediculously complicated, I know, but... when
you use that formula, can you put another IF(COUNTIF) check in the "value if
false" spot? Because if there isn't an "S" in the column, it needs to be able
to check for a "P" or an "N" (independent study or not enrolled) and mark
that instead.

I've been trying to figure it out with the =OR formula but I keep getting
errors. This is what I've been typing that's not working and I don't know why:

=OR(IF(COUNTIF(AA8:AA10,"S"),"S",(IF(COUNTIF(AA8:AA10,"P"),"P","A"))))

Any ideas?