List contains duplicates

List contains duplicates

Generic formula 

=SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(data,data)-1)>0

Related formulas 

Highlight duplicate values

Highlight duplicate rows

Flag first duplicate in a list

Find duplicate values in two columns

Explanation

Does a range contain duplicate values? If you want to test a range (or list) for duplicates, you can do so with a formula that uses COUNTIF together with SUMPRODUCT.

In the example, there is a list of names in the range B3:B11. If you want to test this list to see if there are duplicate names, you can use:

=SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(B3:B11,B3:B11)-1)>0

How this formula works

Working from the inside out, COUNTIF first gets a count of every value in B3:B11 in the range B3:B11. Because we supplying a range (array) of cells for the criteria, COUNTIF returns an array of counts as a result. In the example shown this array looks like this:

{1;2;1;1;1;1;1;2;1}

Next 1 is subtracted, which yields an array like this:

{0;1;0;0;0;0;0;1;0}

Note that every 1 in the array (i.e. items that appear just once) has been converted to a zero.

Next, SUMPRODUCT adds of the elements in this array and returns the result, which in this case is the number 2, which is then tested for a >0 value.

Any time a list contains duplicates, there will be at least two 1's in the array summed by SUMPRODUCT, so a final result of TRUE means the list contains duplicates.

Handling blank cells

Empty cells in the range will cause the formula above to generate incorrect results. To filter out blank or empty cells, you can use the following alternative:

=SUMPRODUCT((COUNTIF(list,list)-1)*(list<>""))>0

Here we use the logical expression list<>"" to force all values associated with blank cells to zero.

List contains duplicates

Generic formula 

=SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(data,data)-1)>0

Related formulas 

Highlight duplicate values

Highlight duplicate rows

Flag first duplicate in a list

Find duplicate values in two columns

Explanation

Does a range contain duplicate values? If you want to test a range (or list) for duplicates, you can do so with a formula that uses COUNTIF together with SUMPRODUCT.

In the example, there is a list of names in the range B3:B11. If you want to test this list to see if there are duplicate names, you can use:

=SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(B3:B11,B3:B11)-1)>0

How this formula works

Working from the inside out, COUNTIF first gets a count of every value in B3:B11 in the range B3:B11. Because we supplying a range (array) of cells for the criteria, COUNTIF returns an array of counts as a result. In the example shown this array looks like this:

{1;2;1;1;1;1;1;2;1}

Next 1 is subtracted, which yields an array like this:

{0;1;0;0;0;0;0;1;0}

Note that every 1 in the array (i.e. items that appear just once) has been converted to a zero.

Next, SUMPRODUCT adds of the elements in this array and returns the result, which in this case is the number 2, which is then tested for a >0 value.

Any time a list contains duplicates, there will be at least two 1's in the array summed by SUMPRODUCT, so a final result of TRUE means the list contains duplicates.

Handling blank cells

Empty cells in the range will cause the formula above to generate incorrect results. To filter out blank or empty cells, you can use the following alternative:

=SUMPRODUCT((COUNTIF(list,list)-1)*(list<>""))>0

Here we use the logical expression list<>"" to force all values associated with blank cells to zero.