Bug 170460 - COUNTIFS returns value for reference List (aka union ~) but should be error
Summary: COUNTIFS returns value for reference List (aka union ~) but should be error
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
26.8.0.0 alpha0+ master
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Cell-Formula
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Reported: 2026-01-24 16:15 UTC by Regina Henschel
Modified: 2026-01-28 19:59 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:

Attachments
Reference List in COUNTIF and COUNTIFS (14.95 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet)
2026-01-24 16:15 UTC, Regina Henschel 		Details
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Description Regina Henschel 2026-01-24 16:15:38 UTC 
Created attachment 205158 [details]
Reference List in COUNTIF and COUNTIFS

Open attached file. It explains the error.

The standard specifies for COUNTIFS function, that the range has to be a reference. A reference list is not allowed. Thus LibreOffice should report an error. Instead, it seems that LibreOffice silently ignores the second range in the list.

That is different from the COUNTIF function, where a reference list is allowed.

See
6.13.9 COUNTIF and 6.13.10 COUNTIFS in part 4, ODF 1.4
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.4/part4-formula/OpenDocument-v1.4-os-part4-formula.html

Excel notices the use of a reference list in COUNTIFS as an error.
Comment 1 m_a_riosv 2026-01-24 22:08:44 UTC 
Reproducible
Version: 26.8.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64)
Build ID: 680(Build:0)
CPU threads: 16; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26200); UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: es-ES (es_ES); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded

In any case, is a bit confusing the different behavior in very related functions.