Author: Oscar Cronquist Article last updated on January 15, 2019

This user defined function creates a unique distinct list of words and how many times they occur in the selected range.

User defined Function Syntax

FREQWORDS(cell_range, position)

Arguments

cell_range Required. The range you want to use.
position Required. Which column to return. The first column contains the values and the second column contains their corresponding frequency.

Example

Array formula in cell E3:E30:

=FreqWords(B2:C11, 1)

Array formula in cell F3:F30:

=FreqWords(B2:C11, 2)

How to create an array formula

    1. Select cell range E3:E30.
    2. Copy (Ctrl + c) array formula and paste (Ctrl + v)  to formula bar.
    3. Press and hold Ctrl + Shift simultaneously.
    4. Press Enter once.
    5. Release all keys.

VBA

'Name function and declare arguments
Function FreqWords(tbl_array As Range, pos As Integer) As Variant()
'Declare variables and their data types
Dim cell As Variant, wrds As Variant, i As Integer
Dim a As Integer, j As Integer
Dim tmp() As String, nr() As Integer
'Redimension variable tmp so it can grow using Redim Preserve
ReDim tmp(0), nr(0)

'Assign 1 to first value in array variable nr
nr(0) = 1
'Iterate through cells in cell range
For Each cell In tbl_array
  'Split words in cell
  wrds = Split(cell)
  'Iterate thorugh words
  For i = 0 To UBound(wrds)
    'Iterate through arrayvariable tmp 
    For j = 0 To UBound(tmp)
      'If variable wrds equal variable tmp then increase value in variable nr by 1
      If wrds(i) = tmp(j) Then
        nr(j) = nr(j) + 1
        a = 1
        Exit For
      End If
    Next j
    'Check if a is not equal to 1
    If a <> 1 Then
      'Copy value from variable wrds to tmp
      tmp(UBound(tmp)) = wrds(i)
      'Add another container to array variable tmp
      ReDim Preserve tmp(UBound(tmp) + 1)
      ReDim Preserve nr(UBound(tmp))
      nr(UBound(tmp)) = 1
    End If
    a = 0
  Next i
Next cell
'Return values in column 1 if argument pos is equal to 1
If pos = 1 Then
  ReDim Preserve tmp(UBound(tmp) - 1)
  FreqWords = Application.Transpose(tmp)
Else
  'Return values in column 2 if argument pos is not equal to 1
  ReDim Preserve nr(UBound(nr) - 1)
  FreqWords = Application.Transpose(nr)
End If
End Function

How to add the User defined Function to your workbook

  1. Press Alt-F11 to open visual basic editor
  2. Press with left mouse button on Module on the Insert menu
  3. Copy and paste vba code
  4. Exit visual basic editor

Get the Excel file


Frequent-words.xls

Weekly Blog EMAIL

[newsletter_signup_form id=1]
Welcome! I am Oscar and here to help you out.

Feel free to comment and ask Excel questions.

Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter so you don't miss new blog articles.

Related articles