Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Using the CONCATENATE Worksheet Function.

Using the CONCATENATE Worksheet Function

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 4, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


3

Excel provides a function called CONCATENATE which can be used to combine the contents of several cells, or even to combine cell contents with other text. For instance, let's say you wanted to add together the contents of cells A3 and B3, separate them by a space, and have the result appear in cell C3. All you need to do is put the following formula in cell C3:

=CONCATENATE(A3," ",B3)

Primarily, the CONCATENATE function is used for compatibility with other (older) spreadsheet programs. You can just as easily use the ampersand (&) operator to combine text values using a formula. For instance, the following is equivalent to the example of CONCATENATE shown above:

=A3 & " " & B3

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9933) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Using the CONCATENATE Worksheet Function.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Cascading Document Windows

Want the various documents you have open to be cascaded on-screen so you can organize them easier? The capability is ...

Discover More

WordTips: The Macros (Special Offer)

WordTips: The Macros can help you discover the power and capabilities of macros within the word environment. ...

Discover More

Calling a Macro from the Workbook_Open Event

You can run a Personal.xlsb macro from within your Workbook_Open code, but you may get an error if you don't make sure ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Colors in an IF Function

You can use the IF worksheet function to test for a number of different conditions or values. You can't use it to check ...

Discover More

Median of Selected Numbers

Need to find a median value in a series of values? It's easy with the MEDIAN function. What isn't as easy is to derive ...

Discover More

Using the WEEKNUM Function

Need to know which week of the year a particular date falls within? Excel provides the WEEKNUM function so you can easily ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 0 + 1?

2021-09-08 07:40:26

RKeev

Power Query Text.Join is another way if the task is a more cyclic occurrence.


2021-09-04 06:37:14

Andy

The newer =CONCAT and =TEXTJOIN are also worth looking at. They allow a range of cells to be joined without specifying each cell separately. =TEXTJOIN also allows for a delimiter to be specified.


2021-09-04 06:20:53

Felix A. Keller

RE. Instead of CONCATENATE

It might be worth mentioning that no spaces are actually required. The formula =A2&” “&B2 works as well as
=A2 & “ “ & B2; i.e. the number of blanks before or after the ampersand do not matter.


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.