Concatenate Excel Function basically can organize and manipulate data with ease. One of the most common functions in Excel is the CONCATENATE function. This function combine text from different cells into a single cell.
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What is the CONCATENATE function?
The CONCATENATE joins two or more strings of text together into one cell. The function takes two or more text values as its arguments. And then, it combines them into a single cell. This function works well when you need to combine first and last names. Or when you need to combine different pieces of information to create a complete address.
How to use the CONCATENATE function in Excel?
If you wish to use the CONCATENATE Excel, you need to follow these steps in order.
- Firstly, you will select the cell for concatenated text.
- Then you need to write “=CONCATENATE(” into the formula bar.
- You should enter the first text value you want to concatenate followed by a comma and then, second value.
- You can continue this process until you finished all cells to merge.
- Now, you close the function with a closing parenthesis “)”
- And lastly, you will press Enter to complete the formula.
The resulting cell will contain the concatenated text.
Example of using excel concatenate function
But what does concatenate do in excel in reality? Here you may suppose you have a list of names in column A. And there is a list of email addresses in column B. You want to combine the names and email addresses into a single column.
- You can select the cell for concatenated text.
- Now, you can type “=CONCATENATE(” into the formula bar.
- You will click on cell A2 to insert the first text value and a comma.
- Then, you will type a space enclosed followed by a comma.
- Now you should click on cell B2 to insert the second text value. That is also followed by a comma.
- Lastly, you will close the function with a closing parenthesis “)” and enter.
The resulting cell will contain the concatenated text. So the name and email address will be together.
What are the advantages of using combine cells in excel
The CONCATENATE function has several advantages over manually combining text in Excel tough.
- This function saves time compared to manually combining text. Because it automatically combines the text for you.
- The CONCATENATE function is very flexible because you can combine any number of text values. And you can use any delimiter you want to separate the values.
- It is also easy to use because it requires only a few steps.
- This one also ensures accuracy in your computation. Because it eliminates the possibility of errors when you manually do it.
What are the limitations of using concatenate excel?
Although the CONCATENATE function is helpful for many things, it has some limitations. Some of these limitations are below.
- The CONCATENATE function can only concatenate up to 255 characters of text. If you need to concatenate more than 255 characters, you will need to use a different function. Such as the CONCAT function.
- Yet, CONCATENATE function is not very flexible when it comes to handling different data types. If you need to concatenate numbers or dates, you will need to convert them to text first.
- So, you need to concatenate multiple cells, but they are not adjacent to each other. Here, you will use more complex formulas. And these should involve the use of the “&” operator.
Despite these limitations, the CONCATENATE function remains as a most common tool in Excel.
what does concatenate do in excel?
To use the CONCATENATE function in best way possible, there are a few tips to apply. Such these tips include below actions.
- For example, instead of typing in the text values manually, you should use cell references and select cells. This ensures text values are up-to-date and accurate.
- When you concatenate text, it is useful to separate the text values with delimiters. Such as spaces, commas or hyphens. This makes the resulting text easier to read.
- You can use CONCAT function for longer text. If you need to concatenate more than 255 characters of text, you should use the CONCAT function instead of the CONCATENATE.
- Here, you can combine the CONCATENATE function with other Excel functions. Such as the IF function to create more complex formulas.
Alternative Functions to concatenate function excel: What is opposite of concatenate function in excel
While the CONCATENATE function is useful for combining text values from different cells into a single cell. But it is not the only function to accomplish similar things. There are a few other functions in Excel such as below.
- Ampersand (&) Operator: This operator can concatenate text values from different cells in the same way as the CONCATENATE function. The syntax is as follows: =cell1&cell2&cell3
- TEXTJOIN Function: This one is similar to the CONCATENATE function. But it has the added ability to separate the concatenated values with a specified delimiter. TEXTJOIN function is as follows: =TEXTJOIN(delimiter,ignore_empty,cell1,cell2,cell3)
- CONCAT Function is a newer addition to Excel and is more versatile. Because it can concatenate text values, numbers and dates without conversion. The syntax is: =CONCAT(cell1,cell2,cell3)
Concatenate Excel Function
While each of these can concatenate text values in Excel, the choice of which function to use will depend your needs.
In conclusion, the CONCATENATE function works with text data in Excel. You can combine text values from different cells into a single cell quickly.. Although it has some limitations, these can be overcome by using other functions such as the CONCAT.
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