Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Number of Terms in a Formula.
Pradeep has a need to figure out the number of terms in any given formula. For instance, in the formula =5+80*3/6 there are four terms. He would like a formula he can use to tell him the number of terms (4) in the formula.
There is no built-in function you can use in Excel to garner this information. Thus, the cleanest approach would be to create your own function, such as the following:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: 
Function TermsInFormula(TheCell As Range)
Dim sFormula As String
Dim vOps As Variant
Dim iCount As Integer
Dim J As Integer
Dim AWF As WorksheetFunction
Application.Volatile
vOps = Array("+", "-", "*", "/", "^")
Set AWF = Application.WorksheetFunction
sFormula = TheCell.Formula
iCount = 1
For J = LBound(vOps) To UBound(vOps)
iCount = iCount + Len(sFormula) _
- Len(AWF.Substitute(sFormula, vOps(J), ""))
Next
TermsInFormula = iCount
Set AWF = Nothing
End Function
The function checks the formula in the referenced cell to see how many of the five mathematical operators it contains. The number of terms in the formula is always one more than the number of operators, since each term is separated by an operator.
In order to use the function, you would enter the following formula into a cell, assuming that you want to know how many terms are in the formula in cell A1:
=TermsInFormula(A1)
The function will work on formulas, numbers, and text that looks like a formula. It will not, however, consider the "/" in dates as an operator since the display of the date is not part of the Formula property that the function examines. (The display of dates is part of the Text or Value property, not the Formula property.)
Earlier I stated that the number of terms in a formula is generally one more than the number of operators. The operative word here is "generally," as not all formulas are that simple. You'll want to make sure that you visually examine the types of formulas with which you are working and make sure that you are seeing the results you expect.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3265) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Number of Terms in a Formula.
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2015-05-23 11:07:51
Rick Rothstein
Here is a more compact UDF that will return the same results as the UDF you posted...
Function TermsInFormula(TheCell As Range) As Long
Dim S As String
Application.Volatile
S = Replace(Replace(Replace(TheCell.Formula, _
"-", "+"), "*", "+"), "/", "+")
TermsInFormula = 1 + UBound(Split(S, "+"))
End Function
2015-05-23 08:35:13
Fred Burg
Mathematically speaking, terms are added or subtracted together. So 4+x has 2 terms while 4*x only has one term.
Also, there was an Excel 4 macro named GET.CELL that, among other things, would return the contents of a cell so that one could do basically the same as .FORMULA and then use the substitute process.
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