# Here's what I believe is the best solution so far:

 =CountIf(ArrayFormula(range<>""),TRUE)

## Here's why in 3 easy steps

### Step 1: Simple As Pie - Add Extra Column

The [answer by eniacAvenger][1] will yield the correct solution without worrying about edge cases as `=A1<>""` seems to arrive at the correct truthy/falsy value based on how we intuitively think of blank cells, either virgin blanks or created blanks. 

So imagine we have this data and we want the Count of non-blanks in `B2:B6`:

<pre><code>| | A | B | C |
|---|-------------|-------|---------|
| 1 | Description | Value | B1&lt;&gt;"" |
| 2 | Text | H | TRUE |
| 3 | Number | 1 | TRUE |
| 4 | IF -> "" | | FALSE |
| 5 | IF -> Text | h | TRUE |
| 6 | Blank | | FALSE |
</code></pre>

If we relied on *Column C*, we could get the count of values in B like this:

 =COUNTIF(C2:C6,True)

### Step 2: Use `FormulaArray` to dynamically create Extra Column

However, [consideRatio's comment][2] is a valid one - if you need an extra column, you can often accomplish the same goal with an `ArrayFormula` which can create a column in memory without eating up sheet space.

So if we want to create C dynamically, we can use an array formula like this:

 =ArrayFormula(B2:B6<>"")

If we simply put it in C2, it would create the vertical array with a single stroke of the pen:

<pre><code>| | A | B | C |
|---|-------------|-------|--------------------------|
| 1 | Description | Value | =ArrayFormula(B2:B6&lt;&gt;"") |
| 2 | Text | H | TRUE |
| 3 | Number | 1 | TRUE |
| 4 | IF -> "" | | FALSE |
| 5 | IF -> Text | h | TRUE |
| 6 | Blank | | FALSE |
</code></pre>

### Step 3: Count Values in Dynamic Column

But with that solved, we no longer need the column to merely display the values.

`ArrayFormula` will resolve to the following range: `{True,True,False,True,False}`. 
`CountIf` just takes in any range and in this case can count the number of True values.

So we can wrap `CountIf` around the values produced by `ArrayFormula` like this:

 =CountIf(ArrayFormula(B2:B6<>""),TRUE)


### Further Reading

The other solutions in this thread are either overly complex, or fail in particular edge cases that I've enumerated in this test sheet:

### [Google Spreadsheet - CountA Test - Demo][3]

For why `CountA` works the wonky way it does, see [my answer here][4]

[1]: https://stackoverflow.com/a/25983799/1366033
[2]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24081707/google-spreadsheet-count-rows-with-not-empty-value#comment44144031_25983799
[3]: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wGzbVbM4y6iPu0xbgLHKC-Xkaj94ArGHqI6SOlv6yrQ/edit?usp=sharing
[4]: https://stackoverflow.com/a/26790893/1366033

In a Google Spreadsheet: How can I count the rows of a given area that have a value? All hints about this I found up to now lead to formulas that do count the rows which have a not empty content (including formula), but a cell with  

    =IF(1=2;"";"")  // Shows an empty cell

is counted as well.

What is the solution to this simple task?
