How To Use Concatenate Vs Textjoin In Excel
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Excel provides several functions to combine text strings, with CONCATENATE and TEXTJOIN being two of the most commonly used. While both serve the purpose of joining text, they have distinct features and use cases. Understanding their differences is crucial for choosing the right function to optimize your workflow and achieve the desired results. This document explores the functionalities of CONCATENATE and TEXTJOIN, highlighting their syntax, arguments, strengths, limitations, and practical applications.
CONCATENATE
CONCATENATE, as its name suggests, is the older function designed to join two or more text strings into a single string. It’s a straightforward function that’s been available in Excel for many years.
Syntax
The syntax for CONCATENATE is as follows:
CONCATENATE(text1, [text2], ...)
Arguments
text1: The first text string to be joined. This is a required argument.[text2], ...: Additional text strings to be joined. These are optional arguments. You can include up to 255 text strings.
Usage
The function works by simply listing the text strings (or cell references containing text strings) you want to combine, separated by commas. Excel joins them in the order they are listed in the formula.
Example
If cell A1 contains “John” and cell B1 contains “Doe”, the formula =CONCATENATE(A1, " ", B1) would return “John Doe”.
Strengths
- Simplicity: It’s easy to understand and use, making it suitable for basic text concatenation tasks.
- Wide Availability: It’s supported in all versions of Excel.
Limitations
- Cumbersome with Ranges:
CONCATENATEstruggles when dealing with ranges of cells. You need to explicitly list each cell individually, making it impractical for joining data from many cells in a row or column. For example, to join cells A1 to A10, you’d need=CONCATENATE(A1,A2,A3,A4,A5,A6,A7,A8,A9,A10). - No Delimiter Option:
CONCATENATElacks a built-in option to specify a delimiter between the joined strings. You have to manually insert delimiters (like spaces, commas, or hyphens) as separate text strings within the formula, as demonstrated in the “John Doe” example above. This can make the formula long and harder to read. - Limited to 255 Arguments: While technically you can have 255 arguments, the complexity of the formula grows exponentially, making it unwieldy for combining data from numerous sources.
TEXTJOIN
TEXTJOIN is a more recent addition to Excel, introduced in Excel 2019 and later versions, as well as in Office 365. It addresses many of the limitations of CONCATENATE, providing greater flexibility and efficiency when combining text.
Syntax
The syntax for TEXTJOIN is as follows:
TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, [text2], ...)
Arguments
delimiter: The text string to insert between each of the text items. This can be a single character, a word, or an entire phrase. For example, a comma and a space (“, “) or a hyphen (“-“). This is a required argument.ignore_empty: A logical value (TRUE or FALSE) that specifies whether to ignore empty cells. If TRUE, empty cells are skipped. If FALSE, empty cells are represented by an empty string. This is a required argument.text1, [text2], ...: One or more text strings or ranges of cells to be joined. These are required arguments. You can include up to 252 text strings or ranges.
Usage
TEXTJOIN combines text strings in a similar manner to CONCATENATE, but with the added benefits of specifying a delimiter and handling empty cells efficiently.
Example
If cells A1 to A3 contain “Apple”, “Banana”, and “Cherry” respectively, the formula =TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A1:A3) would return “Apple, Banana, Cherry”. The delimiter “, ” is inserted between each fruit, and TRUE ensures that any empty cells within the range A1:A3 would be ignored.
Strengths
- Delimiter: The ability to specify a delimiter significantly simplifies the process of adding separators between text strings.
- Range Support:
TEXTJOINexcels at handling ranges of cells. You can easily join data from a row, column, or even a rectangular range of cells with a single function call. - Ignore Empty Cells: The
ignore_emptyargument provides a convenient way to exclude empty cells from the joined string, preventing unwanted delimiters or gaps. - Cleaner Syntax: For complex concatenation tasks,
TEXTJOINoften results in a cleaner and more readable formula compared toCONCATENATE.
Limitations
- Availability:
TEXTJOINis only available in Excel 2019 and later versions, as well as in Office 365. Older versions of Excel do not support this function. - Slightly More Complex Syntax: While more powerful, the syntax of
TEXTJOINis slightly more complex thanCONCATENATEdue to the inclusion of thedelimiterandignore_emptyarguments. However, the added flexibility often outweighs this minor complexity.
Choosing Between CONCATENATE and TEXTJOIN
The choice between CONCATENATE and TEXTJOIN depends on the specific task and the version of Excel you are using.
- Use
CONCATENATEif:- You are using an older version of Excel that does not support
TEXTJOIN. - You need to join only a few text strings, and you don’t require a delimiter.
- Simplicity is paramount, and you are comfortable manually adding delimiters.
- You are using an older version of Excel that does not support
- Use
TEXTJOINif:- You are using Excel 2019 or later, or Office 365.
- You need to join data from a range of cells.
- You need to insert a delimiter between the text strings.
- You want to ignore empty cells in the range.
- You are working with a larger dataset and need a more efficient and readable solution.
In summary, while CONCATENATE remains a functional tool for basic text joining, TEXTJOIN offers significant advantages in terms of flexibility, efficiency, and readability, particularly when dealing with ranges of cells and the need for delimiters. If available, TEXTJOIN is generally the preferred choice for most text concatenation tasks in Excel.
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