Tag: google sheets concatenate

Google Sheets JOIN Function

This post will guide you how to use Google Sheets JOIN function with syntax and examples.

Description

The Google Sheets JOIN function joins two or more text strings together and separated by a delimiter. you can select an entire range of cell references to be combined in Google Sheets. and you can also specify an empty string as delimiter to include between each text in different cells.

The JOIN function can be used to concatenate the items of one or more one-dimensional arrays using a specified delimiter in Google Sheets.

The JOIN function is a build-in function in Google Sheets and it is categorized as a Text Function.

Syntax

The syntax of the JOIN function is as below:

= JOIN (delimiter, value_or_array1, [value_or_array2, …])

Where the JOIN function arguments are:

  •  delimiter -This is a required argument. It can be a text string or empty string to join text values with a given delimiter, it can be a space, comma, hash character or other text string.
  • value_or_array1 – This is a required argument.  One or more strings that you want to concatenate.

Notes:

  • The JOIN function takes two required arguments: delimiter and array1. Delimiter is a text character that to be used between array elements that are concatenated together. And the delimiter character should be enclosed in double quotes. You can also specify the delimiter as blank, just supply an empty string. Array1 is the first value to join together. It can be a cell reference, cell range, text string values or one one-dimensional array. You can also supply the additional value or array that to be appended using a specified delimiter character.
  • If delimiter argument is omitted, the result of JOIN function is similar to the CONCATENATE function in google sheets.

Google Sheets JOIN Function Examples

The below examples will show you how to use Google Sheets JOIN function to join two text strings with a delimiter.

#1 To join strings in B1,C1,D1 cells, just using formula:

= JOIN (",",B1,C1,D1)

Google sheets join function

#2 To join values from the multiple cell ranges with a double dash character as delimiter. using the following formula:

=JOIN("--",B1:B6,C1:C6)

Google sheets join function

#3 to join string in range cell A1:C1 by a comma character as delimiter and empty cells should not be ignored. using the following formula:

 =join(",",B1:B9)

Google sheets join function

 

Google Sheets CONCATENATE Function

This post will guide you how to use Google Sheets CONCATENATE function with syntax and examples.

Description

The Google Sheets CONCATENATE function combines 2 or more strings or ranges together.

The CONCATENATE function can be used concatenate text strings, cells, ranges, columns and rows in google sheets. It joins multiple values and returns the result as text.

The CONCATENATE function is a build-in function in Google Sheets and it is categorized as a Text Function.

Syntax

The syntax of the CONCATENATE function is as below:

= CONCATENATE (str1,[str2,…])

Where the CONCATENATE function argument is:

str1 – the strings that you want to join together.
str2 – the additional strings to be joined

Example

#1 To join the strings from B1 to B5, just using the following google sheets formula:

=CONCATENATE(B1,B2,B3,B4,B5)

google sheets concatenate function

#2 To join three strings: the string in Cell B1, a string with a space character and the string value in cell B2

=CONCATENATE(B1,B2,B3)

google sheets concatenate function

#3 To join three strings using the concatenation operator

=A1 & “ “ & A2

google sheets concatenate function

#4 Concatenating numeric values using CONCATENATE function

=CONCATENATE(“date is: “，A1)

google sheets concatenate function

You can see that the number formatting for that numeric value in cell A1 would be lost. And the date value should be converted to a serial number while joined with CONCATENATE function in google sheets.

#5 Concatenating values in ranges using CONCATENATE function

=CONCATENATE(A1:B2)

google sheets concatenate function

When a cell range is supplied as argument in CONCATENATE function, and cell values are appended across rows firstly.  For example, CONCATENATE(A1:B2) is equivalent to CONCATENATE(A1,B1,A2,B2)

Note:

  • The CONCATENATE function can accept multiple arguments called string1, string2, string3, etc. those values can be supplied as cell references, Unicode characters or hardcoded text string, numbers.
  • The first text string argument is required
  • Numeric values are converted to text string when joined.
  • You can also use the ampersand character (&) to concatenate text strings. It is an alternative to CONCATENATE function in google sheets.