A PlainSift practical guide
Count repeated answers in a one-column survey export
Turn one answer per line into a frequency table, with the most common answer first.
For a simple survey question with one answer per row, a frequency table shows how often each answer appears. Copy the answer column without its header and keep repeated rows: those repetitions are what you want to count. Removing duplicates first would erase the frequency information.
This recipe trims surrounding spaces, removes blank rows, then counts identical whole lines. It is suitable for short category labels such as “Email” and “Phone”. It does not interpret free-text meaning, combine synonyms, or count individual words inside an answer.
Start with Trim linesFree, no sign-up. Your pasted text stays in the browser workspace.
Step-by-step instructions
These steps use the default options shown in each tool. Add changes in the order listed.
Trim lines
Start in Trim lines and paste the answer column. Keep both-edge trimming so accidental spaces do not create separate groups.
Remove empty lines
Add Remove empty lines to exclude unanswered rows from this count. Omit this step if blank responses need their own group.
Count line frequency
Add Count line frequency and keep case sensitivity on for the example. Run the pipeline; each output row contains the answer, a tab, and its count.
Review the full output, then use Copy result or Download .txt.
Before and after
Input
Email
Phone
Email
Chat
Email
PhoneResult
Email 3
Phone 2
Chat 1After trimming and blank removal, six responses remain. Email appears three times, Phone twice, and Chat once. The separator before each count is a tab.
Read and reuse the frequency table
Results are ordered by count from highest to lowest. If two answers have the same count, the answer that appeared first in the source comes first in the result. Copying simple tab-separated output into a spreadsheet usually places the answer and count into separate columns.
As a quick check, add the output counts and compare the sum with the number of nonblank input responses after cleaning. In the example, 3 + 2 + 1 equals six. If you want percentages, use those counts and the intended response total in your spreadsheet; decide explicitly whether missing responses belong in the denominator.
Choose grouping rules before interpreting results
Case-sensitive counting treats “Email” and “email” separately. Turn off case sensitivity if capitalization is irrelevant. The first representation is kept as the label; the tool does not rewrite all values to lowercase. “E-mail” and “Email” still differ because punctuation is meaningful.
Multiple-choice responses such as “Email, Phone” form one whole-line group. Splitting them into separate choices changes what you are counting and requires a clear delimiter format. Answers that already contain tabs also make the output ambiguous as a two-column table; use a format-aware export for those cases.
Common questions
Can I count duplicate lines without cleaning them?
Yes. Open Count line frequency directly and run the default operation. Exact spaces and case distinguish groups, and blank lines are counted as values.
Will similar answers be merged automatically?
No. “Phone”, “Telephone”, and “Call me” remain different answers. Review and standardize your categories separately if your analysis requires semantic grouping.