CONCATENATE

• How to use CONCATENATE formula?
• Examples of using CONCATENATE formula
• CONCATENATE formula not working?
• Similar formulas to CONCATENATE

Usage

Use the CONCATENATE formula with the syntax shown below, it has 1 required parameter and 1 optional parameter:

=CONCATENATE(string1, [string2, ...])

1. string1 (required):
   The first string to concatenate. It can be a string, cell reference or range of cells.
2. string2 (optional):
   Additional strings to concatenate. You can add up to 30 strings, each separated by a comma.

Examples

Combine first and last names

You can use the CONCATENATE function to combine first and last names from separate cells into a single cell. For example, if you have a first name in cell A2 and a last name in cell B2, you can use the formula =CONCATENATE(A2, " ", B2) to combine them into a single cell.

Create a custom message

You can use the CONCATENATE function to create a custom message for your spreadsheet. For example, if you have a message in cell A1 and a name in cell B1, you can use the formula =CONCATENATE(A1, ", ", B1, "!") to create a message that includes the name.

Combine multiple cells into one

You can use the CONCATENATE function to combine the contents of multiple cells into a single cell. For example, if you have data in cells A1, B1 and C1, you can use the formula =CONCATENATE(A1, " ", B1, " ", C1) to combine them into a single cell.

Common Mistakes

Forgetting to separate strings with commas

When using the CONCATENATE formula, it is important to separate each string with a comma. If you forget to include a comma between strings, the formula will return an error.

Not including enough strings

The CONCATENATE formula requires at least one string argument. If you don't include at least one string, the formula will return an error.

Mismatched data types

If you try to combine strings with numerical values, or if you try to combine text with dates or times, the CONCATENATE formula may return unexpected results. Make sure that all of the data types are consistent before using the formula.

Related Formulas

The following functions are similar to CONCATENATE or are often used with it in a formula:

• TEXTJOIN

  The TEXTJOIN formula concatenates (joins together) multiple text strings using a delimiter of your choice. This can be useful when combining lists, creating sentences, or formatting data for export. You can choose to ignore empty cells or include them as part of the output.

• LEFT

  The LEFT formula is used to extract a specific number of characters from the beginning of a text string. It is most commonly used to extract the first name or last name from a full name or to extract a date from a text string.

• RIGHT

  The RIGHT formula in Google Sheets returns the rightmost characters from a string, based on the number of characters specified. It is commonly used to extract a certain number of characters from the end of a string. The formula takes two arguments: the string from which to extract the characters, and the number of characters to extract.

Learn More

You can learn more about the CONCATENATE Google Sheets function on Google Support.