Functions 1: CONCATENATE

Function: CONCATENATE

Time to learn: 15 minutes

Hi everyone, thanks for joining us. Today, we’ll have a look at a text function called CONCATENATE.  This is an exciting function that combines stuff together.  Numbers and formulas can also be combined.  We will look into all of that.

TEXT

Here’s a text example using CONCATENATE:

=CONCATENATE(A1,” “,A2)

Like all formulas, start with an ‘=’ and then the CONCATENATE function. After the function, remember that ‘(‘ and ‘)’ will frame the contents.

So what’s inside? Notice that A1 and A2 are the cells that the contents are in.  Also note that “ “ that separates A1 and A2.  “ “ means that there is now a ‘space’ between A1 and A2.

Here’s another example to show how this works:

=CONCATENATE(A1,” just “,A2)

See that we have now added the word ‘just’ between the contents of cells A1 and A2.

NUMBERS

Here’s an example of how CONCATENATE works with numbers:

=CONCATENATE(A1,” just “,A2)

 

Just like with text. Notice that CONCATENATE does not add the numbers, but merely combines them together.

FORMULAS

How about combining formulas together? Here’s an example:

=CONCATENATE(SUM(A1:A5),” together with “,AVERAGE(B1:B5))

CONCATENATE is an exciting formula that has many uses!