In a range where different columns may have different numbers of values (but there won't be gaps in the sequence within a column) I'd like to know the length of the longest column. To be more demanding, I'd like it in a single formula.
So given a range like this:
| A B C D
---+---+---+---+---
1 | 1 2 3 4
2 | 2 9 5 6
3 | 5 5
4 | 4
5 |
.. the answer I want is 4.
Something that works in this case is
=MAX(COUNT(A1:A999),COUNT(B1:B999),COUNT(C1:C999),Count(D1:D999))
But it's (a) ugly and (b) inflexible - doesn't cater for the case where a column might be added.
I tried something like this, hoping for an array giving the set of column counts (hoping to wrap a MAX()
around it):
{=COUNT(OFFSET(A1,0,COLUMN(A1:D1)-COLUMN(A1),999,1))}
.. but it only gives a single cell, which always seems to be the count on the first column.
I know this could be easily solved in VBA but for several reasons (not least curiosity) I'd like to see if it can be solved in a single (probably array) formula.