Ravindra BagaleCourses & study guides Track your progress

Guides

How to Join Text in Excel (&, CONCAT, TEXTJOIN)

By , Excel & Data Analytics trainer LinkedIn Published: Last updated:

Read this guide in: English · मराठी · हिंदी

Join text in Excel with &, CONCAT, or TEXTJOIN — build full names, city–area labels, or comma-separated lists from separate cells.

Chala mitrano! First name ek cell, last name dusra — ek line havay. & is quick; TEXTJOIN shines for lists. Why? Customer sheets and address lines. How? Tiny examples, then fill down. Stay with me.

Quick answer

Vertical steps:

  1. Simple: =A2&" "&B2 (First + space + Last).
  2. Several pieces: =CONCAT(A2," ",B2," — ",C2).
  3. A range with commas: =TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,A2:A5).
  4. Keep TRUE in TEXTJOIN to skip blanks.
  5. Fill down for each customer row.
  6. Use TEXT() if dates/numbers need a fixed format.
=A2&" "&B2
=TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,A2:A5)

Language: English · मराठी · हिंदी

Before and after (look at the tables first)

Before

First Last City
Riya Shah Mumbai
Om Patil Pune

After (Full name)

Full name
Riya Shah
Om Patil
Before join text Names split across columns.

Before

After join text Full names joined with space.

After

Why join text?

  1. Mail merge and WhatsApp lists want one “Full name” column.
  2. City and Area often live apart until you build a label.
  3. Reports need readable combined fields.

What each tool does

& (ampersand)

=A2&" "&B2
  1. Glues values left to right.
  2. Put " " for a space.
  3. Great for two or three pieces.

CONCAT

=CONCAT(A2," ",B2," — ",C2)
  1. Same idea with a function name.
  2. Cleaner when many pieces.

TEXTJOIN

=TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,A2:A4)
  1. Delimiter = ", " between items.
  2. TRUE = skip empty cells.
  3. Ideal for a vertical list of items.

What happens (tiny)

  1. A2=Riya, B2=Shah → Riya Shah.
  2. TEXTJOIN on Mumbai, Pune, Nashik with ", " → Mumbai, Pune, Nashik.
  3. Blank cell skipped when second argument is TRUE.

Vertical practice steps

  1. Type First / Last for two people.
  2. Join with &.
  3. Add City; join with CONCAT and an em dash.
  4. List three cities in a column; TEXTJOIN them.
  5. Leave one city blank; confirm TRUE skips it.
  6. Fill formulas down.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Old CONCATENATE still works; new sheets should use CONCAT or TEXTJOIN. For line breaks inside one cell use CHAR(10) and turn on Wrap Text — handy for address blocks.

Practice task

  1. Customer First, Last, Area, City.
  2. Build Full name and Area, City columns.
  3. TEXTJOIN a list of product names for a mini invoice line.
  4. Compare & vs TEXTJOIN in one note.

Learn it properly

Course lessons:

Related guides: Remove duplicates · FILTER function · IF function

Samajla ka? & and CONCAT glue pieces; TEXTJOIN glues a list with a delimiter and can skip blanks. Aata pudhe FILTER dynamic array.

Frequently asked questions

& vs CONCAT?

Both join text. & is quick for two or three pieces. CONCAT handles many arguments cleanly.

What is TEXTJOIN?

Joins a range (or list) with a delimiter you choose, with an option to ignore empty cells.

Is CONCATENATE still OK?

Old function still works; prefer CONCAT or TEXTJOIN in new work.

Delimiter examples?

Space, comma-space, " | ", or CHAR(10) for a line break inside a cell (wrap text on).

Leading zeros lost?

Store codes as text before joining, or use TEXT with a format code.

Course lesson?

Chapter 3 — Joining text, CONCAT, TEXTJOIN and TEXT.