INDEX
About the CONCATENATE Function
Overview of CONCATENATE
Combine Text Strings Excel Function/Text Operations | ||||||||||||
=CONCATENATE(Text1, Text2, Text3,…) Summary: Combines multiple text strings separated by commas. |
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When to Use CONCATENATE
- To combine multiple strings into one.
- To merge first and last names into a single cell.
- To join city and state names from separate cells into one cell.
How to Use CONCATENATE
A | B | C | D | E | |
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1 | John | Doe | JohnDoe
=CONCATENATE(B1, C1) =(B1 & C1) can also be used. |
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Combining Dates with CONCATENATE
- Combining dates directly with CONCATENATE will result in the date’s serial value being concatenated. For example, “44978” (2/21/2023) and “44979” (2/22/2023) will result in “4497844979”.
- To display formatted dates, use the TEXT function to convert them into strings before concatenation: =TEXT(A1, “mm/dd/yyyy”).
Combining Strings with Line Breaks
- Insert line breaks using CHAR(10) as part of the concatenation formula.
- Ensure the target cell has “Wrap Text” enabled (Home → Alignment → Wrap Text).
Limitations of CONCATENATE
- CONCATENATE cannot concatenate ranges (e.g., A1:A5). Use CONCAT for this.
- CONCATENATE has a character limit of 255 characters. If exceeded, split the concatenation into smaller chunks.