CONCATENATE function - Help and How-to - Microsoft Office Online

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CONCATENATE function

Applies to: Microsoft Office Excel 2007

Tags combine; combine text; connect; functions; join; mail merge; merge; text

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This article describes the formula syntax and usage of the CONCATENATE function (function: A prewritten formula that takes a value or values, performs an operation, and returns a value or values. Use functions to simplify and shorten formulas on a worksheet, especially those that perform lengthy or complex calculations.) in Microsoft Office Excel.

Description

The CONCATENATE function joins up to 255 text strings into one text string. The joined items can be text, numbers, cell references, or a combination of those items. For example, if your worksheet contains a person's first name in cell A1 and the person's last name in cell B1, you can combine the two values in another cell by using the following formula:

=CONCATENATE(A1," ",B1)

The second argument in this example (" ") is a space character. You must specify any spaces or punctuation that you want to appear in the results as an argument that is enclosed in quotation marks.

Syntax

CONCATENATE(text1, [text2], ...)

The CONCATENATE function syntax has the following arguments (argument: A value that provides information to an action, an event, a method, a property, a function, or a procedure.):

text1 Required. The first text item to be concatenated.
text2 ... Optional. Additional text items, up to a maximum of 255 items. The items must be separated by commas.

Note You can also use the ampersand (&) calculation operator instead of the CONCATENATE function to join text items. For example, =A1 & B1 returns the same value as =CONCATENATE(A1, B1).

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

Show How do I copy an example?

Select the example in this article.
Important Do not select the row or column headers.
Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In Excel, create a blank workbook or worksheet.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
Important For the example to work properly, you must paste it into cell A1 of the worksheet.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click the Show Formulas button.

After you copy the example to a blank worksheet, you can adapt it to suit your needs.

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A	B	C
Data
brook trout	Andreas	Hauser
species	Fourth	Pine
32
Formula	Description	Result
=CONCATENATE("Stream population for ",A2," ",A3," is ",A4,"/mile")	Creates a sentence by concatenating the data in column A with other text.	Stream population for brook trout species is 32/mile
=CONCATENATE(B2, " ", C2)	Concatenates the string in cell B2, a space character, and the value in cell C2.	Andreas Hauser
=CONCATENATE(C2, ", ", B2)	Concatenates the string in cell C2, a string consisting of a comma and a space character, and the value in cell B2.	Hauser, Andreas
=CONCATENATE(B3," & ",C3)	Concatenates the string in cell B3, a string consisting of a space, an ampersand, another space, and the value in cell C3.	Fourth & Pine
=B3 & " & " & C3	Concatenates the same items as the previous example, but by using the ampersand (&) calculation operator instead of the CONCATENATE function.	Fourth & Pine

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