COUNTA DAX Function (Aggregation)
Counts the number of values in a column.
Syntax
| Parameter | Attributes | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ColumnName |
The column that contains the values to be counted. |
Return values
Returns the number of cells in a column that contain a non blank value.
Remarks
The only argument allowed to this function is a column.
When the function finds no rows that are non-blank, it returns a blank.
COUNT and COUNTA are identical in DAX for all the data types except Boolean. COUNTA can operate on a Boolean data type, whereas COUNT cannot do that.
The COUNTA function internally executes COUNTAX, without any performance difference.
The following COUNTA call:
COUNTA ( table[column] )
corresponds to the following COUNTAX call:
COUNTAX (
table,
table[column]
)
Examples
-- COUNT is the short version of COUNTX, when used with one column only
-- In DAX, there are no differences between COUNTA and COUNT
-- COUNTX can be expressed in a more explicit way by using CALCULATE
-- and COUNTROWS
DEFINE
MEASURE Customer[# Customers] = COUNTROWS ( Customer )
MEASURE Customer[# Individuals 1] = COUNT ( Customer[Customer Name] )
MEASURE Customer[# Individuals 2] = COUNTX ( Customer, Customer[Customer Name] )
MEASURE Customer[# Individuals 3] =
CALCULATE (
COUNTROWS ( Customer ),
NOT ISBLANK ( Customer[Customer Name] )
)
EVALUATE
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS (
Customer[Continent],
"# Customers", [# Customers],
"# Individuals 1", [# Individuals 1],
"# Individuals 2", [# Individuals 2],
"# Individuals 3", [# Individuals 3]
)
| Continent | # Customers | # Individuals 1 | # Individuals 2 | # Individuals 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | 3,658 | 3,624 | 3,624 | 3,624 |
| North America | 9,665 | 9,527 | 9,527 | 9,527 |
| Europe | 5,546 | 5,525 | 5,525 | 5,525 |
-- COUNT does not count blanks, but it counts empty strings
-- using the CALCULATE version, the code is clearer
DEFINE
MEASURE Customer[# COUNT] = COUNT ( Customer[Customer Name] )
MEASURE Customer[# NO BLANKS] =
CALCULATE (
COUNTROWS ( Customer ),
NOT ISBLANK ( Customer[Customer Name] )
)
MEASURE Customer[# NO BLANKS / EMPTY STRINGS] =
CALCULATE (
COUNTROWS ( Customer ),
Customer[Customer Name] <> ""
)
EVALUATE
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS (
Customer[Continent],
"# COUNT", [# COUNT],
"# NO BLANKS", [# NO BLANKS],
"# NO BLANKS / EMPTY STRINGS", [# NO BLANKS / EMPTY STRINGS]
)
| Continent | # COUNT | # NO BLANKS | # NO BLANKS / EMPTY STRINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | 3,624 | 3,624 | 3,591 |
| North America | 9,527 | 9,527 | 9,389 |
| Europe | 5,525 | 5,525 | 5,504 |
Related functions
Other related functions are:
Last update: Oct 22, 2025 » Contribute » Show contributors
Contributors: Alberto Ferrari, Marco Russo
Microsoft documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dax/counta-function-dax