Unique values for each date and location

[pat_johnson]

Hey everyone - I'd really appreciate some help

I attached a file showing the basic data format. I have sites, which were visited on multiple dates, and each time I went I recorded the species I saw. I want a tally of the number of species (unique values) for each site on each date (criteria). I have about 850 site/date combinations. Thank you very very much!

Pat

[TMS]

I'm sure there's a way with formulae but, in the meantime ...

You could make a copy of the sheet and then, in a helper column, concatenate the date, site and species. Sort the helper column ascending and then use delete duplicates to get a list of unique combinations.

You can then delete the helper column.

Regards

[pat_johnson]

Thanks for your quick response and the excellent suggestion.

I need to delete all but one of the duplicates, so that way I know which species were present at a given site on a given date. Looking into that elsewhere on the net, seems a bit tricky. Once I do that I will want to delete lines of data that have a blank in the helper column... seems like I am making this harder than it should be!

any other ideas/advice?
THANKS!

[TMS]

Why would the helper column have blanks in it?

I also realised that, having made the helper column, you should be able to use that in a formula to get a list of unique entries.

Search this forum for something like, extracting a list of unique entries from a column of data. Should be more straightforward than three columns.

Regards

[Mikeopolo]

No file attached?