title: Count Negative in Range
body: <p>I am attempting to count the number of occurrences that contain a <code>*</code> in a specific numeric range using the <code>COUNTIFS</code> function in Google Sheets. The function works for a positive range, but fails when I add a negative. I have tried escaping the negative and adding parens but nothing seems to work. </p>
  
  <p>Works - correctly returns a value of 1, because 0.01* is between 0 and .1 and contains an <code>*</code></p>
  
  <pre><code>0.01*
  .8*
  *
  -0.08
  -0.08*
  =COUNTIFS(J62:J66, "&gt;0.000\*",J62:J66, "&lt;0.1\*")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Does Not Work - expected return value of 1, because -.08* is between 0 and -.1 and contains an <code>*</code>.</p>
  
  <pre><code>-.3*
  -.8*
  -*
  -0.08
  -0.08*
  =COUNTIFS(H62:H66, "&gt;-0.1\*",H62:H66, "&lt;0.000\*")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>edit to address @pnuts comment</strong></p>
  
  <p>If I change <code>-.3*</code> to <code>-0.3*</code> and <code>-.8*</code> to <code>-0.8*</code> the function returns a value of 2, which is not what I expect.</p>