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Lookup & Reference

AREAS function: count contiguous rectangular blocks in a reference

Count how many separate cells or ranges belong to a single reference or multi-range union using AREAS.

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Inspect single vs multi-area union references

AREAS(reference) returns the number of contiguous rectangular cell blocks inside a reference. A single range like B2:B5 returns 1, while a parenthesized union (B2:B5, D2:D5, F2) returns 3.

Wrap union commas in an extra pair of parentheses so the parser treats the union as one reference argument rather than three separate function arguments.

=AREAS((B2:B5, D2:D5, F2))

Try the example

Use the original values or change them to test your understanding.