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Concatenation in Excel refers to the process of combining multiple strings or cells into one continuous string. This can be useful for creating longer, more descriptive labels or for merging data from different cells into one cell. To concatenate in Excel, you can use the CONCATENATE function or the “&” symbol. Both methods allow you to join two or more strings or cells together, while also giving you the flexibility to add separators or additional text between the values. This can be done in a single cell or across multiple cells, making it a versatile and efficient tool for manipulating data in Excel. By mastering the technique of concatenation, you can easily organize and structure your data in a more concise and meaningful way.
The CONCAT function combines the text from multiple ranges and/or strings, but it doesn’t provide delimiter or IgnoreEmpty arguments.
CONCAT replaces the CONCATENATE function. However, the CONCATENATE function will stay available for compatibility with earlier versions of Excel.
Note: This feature is available on Windows or Mac if you have Office 2019, or if you have an Office 365 subscription. If you are an Office 365 subscriber, make sure you have the latest version of Office.
Syntax
CONCAT(text1, [text2],…)
Argument | Description |
|---|---|
text1 | Text item to be joined. A string, or array of strings, such as a range of cells. |
[text2, …] | Additional text items to be joined. There can be a maximum of 253 text arguments for the text items. Each can be a string, or array of strings, such as a range of cells. |
For example, =CONCAT(“The”,” “,”sun”,” “,”will”,” “,”come”,” “,”up”,” “,”tomorrow.”) will return The sun will come up tomorrow.
Tip: To include delimiters (such as spacing or ampersands (&)) between the text you want to combine, and to remove empty arguments you don’t want to appear in the combined text result, you can use the TEXTJOIN function.
Remarks
If the resulting string exceeds 32767 characters (cell limit), CONCAT returns the #VALUE! error.
Examples
Copy the example data in each of the following tables, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press Enter. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.
Example 1
=CONCAT(B:B, C:C) | A’s | B’s |
|---|---|---|
a1 | b1 | |
a2 | b2 | |
a4 | b4 | |
a5 | b5 | |
a6 | b6 | |
a7 | b7 |
Because this function allows full column and row references, it returns this result: A’sa1a2a4a5a6a7B’sb1b2b4b5b6b7
Example 2
=CONCAT(B2:C8) | A’s | B’s |
|---|---|---|
a1 | b1 | |
a2 | b2 | |
a4 | b4 | |
a5 | b5 | |
a6 | b6 | |
a7 | b7 |
Result: a1b1a2b2a4b4a5b5a6b6a7b7
Example 3
Data | First Name | Last name |
|---|---|---|
brook trout | Andreas | Hauser |
species | Fourth | Pine |
32 | ||
Formula | Description | Result |
=CONCAT(“Stream population for “, A2,” “, A3, ” is “, A4, “/mile.”) | Creates a sentence by joining the data in column A with other text. | Stream population for brook trout species is 32/mile. |
=CONCAT(B2,” “, C2) | Joins three things: the string in cell B2, a space character, and the value in cell C2. | Andreas Hauser |
=CONCAT(C2, “, “, B2) | Joins three things: the string in cell C2, a string with a comma and a space character, and the value in cell B2. | Hauser, Andreas |
=CONCAT(B3,” & “, C3) | Joins three things: the string in cell B3, a string consisting of a space with ampersand and another space, and the value in cell C3. | Fourth & Pine |
=B3 & ” & ” & C3 | Joins the same items as the previous example, but by using the ampersand (&) calculation operator instead of the CONCAT function. | Fourth & Pine |
See Also
Find and correct errors in formulas
Excel keyboard shortcuts and function keys
Cite this article
stats writer (2024). How can I concatenate multiple strings or cells in Excel?. PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/stats/how-can-i-concatenate-multiple-strings-or-cells-in-excel/
stats writer. "How can I concatenate multiple strings or cells in Excel?." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 29 Jun. 2024, https://scales.arabpsychology.com/stats/how-can-i-concatenate-multiple-strings-or-cells-in-excel/.
stats writer. "How can I concatenate multiple strings or cells in Excel?." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2024. https://scales.arabpsychology.com/stats/how-can-i-concatenate-multiple-strings-or-cells-in-excel/.
stats writer (2024) 'How can I concatenate multiple strings or cells in Excel?', PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Available at: https://scales.arabpsychology.com/stats/how-can-i-concatenate-multiple-strings-or-cells-in-excel/.
[1] stats writer, "How can I concatenate multiple strings or cells in Excel?," PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, June, 2024.
stats writer. How can I concatenate multiple strings or cells in Excel?. PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. 2024;vol(issue):pages.