Using the CONCATENATE Worksheet Function

Summary: Want to join snippets of text together in a cell? You can do this using the CONCATENATE worksheet function, as described in this tip. You can also use the ampersand operator, which is a shorthand method of using the worksheet function. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

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 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 (2433) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Using the CONCATENATE Worksheet Function