How to Use the CONCATENATE and TEXTJOIN Functions in Excel

How to Use the CONCATENATE and TEXTJOIN Functions in Excel

Combining text from multiple cells is a common task in Excel. Let's explore two powerful functions to do this: CONCATENATE and TEXTJOIN.

🔸 1. CONCATENATE Function

Formula Syntax:

=CONCATENATE(A2, " ", B2)

Example: Combine First Name and Last Name → =CONCATENATE(A2, " ", B2)

Note: CONCATENATE does not allow delimiters automatically between items.

🔸 2. TEXTJOIN Function

Formula Syntax:

=TEXTJOIN(" ", TRUE, A2:C2)

Benefits:

• You can add delimiters like space, comma, etc.
• Option to ignore empty cells

Example: Merge multiple address columns → =TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A2:E2)

🎯 When to Use What:

• Use CONCATENATE for basic tasks or compatibility with older Excel versions
• Use TEXTJOIN for flexible, cleaner, and modern text combination

✅ Extra Tip:

In Excel 2019 and Microsoft 365, use the TEXT function to format dates or numbers inside these functions:

=TEXTJOIN(" - ", TRUE, TEXT(A2, "dd-mm-yyyy"), B2)

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