About the JOIN Function
Overview of JOIN
Combine Multiple Values with a Specified DelimiterGoogle Sheets Function | ||
=JOIN( delimiter, array or list of values ) Summary The JOIN function concatenates multiple values into a single string using a specified delimiter. |
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When to Use the JOIN Function
- When you want to combine a list or array into a single string.
- When you want to organize data with comma-separated or space-separated formatting.
- When you want to improve the readability of your data.
How to Use JOIN
The following table explains the basic usage of the JOIN function.
A | B | C | D | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Data1 | Data2 | Data3 | |
2 | Apple | Banana | Orange |
=JOIN(“, “, A2:C2)
Result
- The values in cells A2, B2, and C2 are combined with “, ” as the delimiter, resulting in:
- Apple, Banana, Orange
Example 2: Concatenating Fixed Values
Here’s an example of concatenating specified values directly.
=JOIN(” – “, “New York”, “Los Angeles”, “Chicago”)
Result
- The values “New York,” “Los Angeles,” and “Chicago” are combined with ” – ” as the delimiter, resulting in:
- New York – Los Angeles – Chicago
Advanced Examples
Advanced Example 1: Excluding Blank Cells
Here’s how to concatenate only non-blank cells from a list.
A | B | C | D | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Name | Occupation | ||
2 | Smith | Engineer |
=JOIN(” “, FILTER(A2:C2, A2:C2<>””))
Result
- Non-blank cells “Smith” and “Engineer” are combined with a space as the delimiter, resulting in:
- Smith Engineer
Points to Note
- You can specify any string as the delimiter (e.g., space, comma, semicolon).
- Blank cells are included by default; use the
FILTER
function to exclude blank cells if needed. - Performance may be affected when concatenating very large arrays.
Conclusion
- The JOIN function is a convenient tool for combining multiple values into a single string.
- Specifying a delimiter makes it suitable for organizing data.
- Combining it with other functions (e.g., FILTER or ARRAYFORMULA) allows for flexible data processing.