MS Excel: CONCATENATE Function (WS)
In Microsoft Excel, the CONCATENATE function allows you to join 2 or more strings together.
Syntax
The syntax for the CONCATENATE function is:
CONCATENATE( text1, text2, ... text_n )
text1 to text_n are the strings that you wish to join together. There can be up to 30 strings that are joined together.
Applies To
- Excel 2013, Excel 2011 for Mac, Excel 2010, Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel XP, Excel 2000
Type of Function
- Worksheet function (WS)
Worksheet Function Example
Let's take a look at an example to see how you would use the CONCATENATE function in a worksheet:

Based on the Excel spreadsheet above, the CONCATENATE function would return the following:
| =CONCATENATE(A1, A2) | would return "Alphabet" |
| =CONCATENATE("Tech on the ", "Net") | would return "Tech on the Net" |
| =CONCATENATE(A1, "bet soup") | would return "Alphabet soup" |
Frequently Asked Questions
Question:For an IF statement in Excel, I want to combine text and a value.
For example, I want to put an equation for work hours and pay. If I am paid more than I should be, I want it to read how many hours I owe my boss. But if I work more than I am paid for, I want it to read what my boss owes me (hours*Pay per Hour).
I tried the following:
=IF(A2<0,"I owe boss" abs(A2) "Hours","Boss owes me" abs(A2)*15 "dollars")<
Is it possible or do I have to do it in 2 separate cells? (one for text and one for the value)
Answer: There are two ways that you can concatenate text and values. The first is by using the & character to concatenate:
=IF(A2<0,"I owe boss " & ABS(A2) & " Hours","Boss owes me " & ABS(A2)*15 & " dollars")
Or the second method is to use the CONCATENATE function:
=IF(A2<0,CONCATENATE("I owe boss ", ABS(A2)," Hours"), CONCATENATE("Boss owes me ", ABS(A2)*15, " dollars"))