COUNTIF Not Blank Help

[KuraiChikara]

Hello,
I am trying to count cells if they are not blank without including extra rows or columns to do so.
I know how to represent if a cell is not blank but I do not know how to count them.

Example:
In the grid below A1 has my header and A2-A5 has a 1 or it doesnt.
B1 has my header and B2-B5 has my formula.
The formula I'm using basically says "IF A2 is not blank put "NOT BLANK" or put "BLANK" and it works.
=IF(A2<>"","NOT BLANK","BLANK")

Now from here, I could use another column to simply count, "Blank or Not Blank" but I don't want to do that.
The same formula does not work if I try to use "COUNTIF" this formula =COUNTIF(A2:A5,<>"") does not work

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500, align: left"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD="align: center"]Value
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Formula[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]NOT BLANK[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]BLANK[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]NOT BLANK[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]NOT BLANK[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

 

[Aryatect]

Hi, why not just use COUNT on Column A: =COUNT(A2:A5)

if you really want to use COUNTIF it can be used like =COUNTIF(A2:A5,"<>")

 

[Fluff]

Or if col A is either 1 or blank you could use
=COUNTIF(A2:A7,"1")

 

[KuraiChikara]

Your 2nd formula works thank you!
I should have been more specific. It's to count blanks and non blanks with any combination of data; numbers, names, dates, etc. COUNT only works on numbers but COUNT IF with the not equal to symbols works fine.

 

[Aryatect]

Glad we could help and thanks for the feedback!