Excel track · Exercise 62 of 86
CONCAT and the & operator
Join two cells into one string, with the space passed in as its own piece.
Intermediate
Two names in two columns
Read-only data · answer in B4
In B4, join the first name in A2 and the last name in B2 with a single space between them.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First | Last |
| 2 | Ada | Lovelace |
| 3 | Grace | Hopper |
| 4 | Full name |
Reference answer
What it does
CONCAT joins its arguments into one string, in the order you list them. The call =CONCAT(A2," ",B2) returns Ada Lovelace: the first name, a typed space, then the last name. The space is an argument of its own, so =CONCAT(A2,B2) returns AdaLovelace.
This sheet asks for the name in B4, built from A2 and B2. The space is the piece that goes missing, and AdaLovelace reads like a name at a glance. The grader compares the text, so a dropped character fails the answer with no other warning.
The & operator joins the same way and is shorter to type: A2&" "&B2 answers the same text. This exercise grades CONCAT because that is the function it names. Either version reads from cells, so a corrected row changes the answer without an edit.
Syntax
=CONCAT(text1, [text2], ...) and =text1 & text2Worked example
On Two names in two columns, =CONCAT(A2," ",B2) returns Ada Lovelace.
=CONCAT(A2," ",B2)Common errors
| Error | What it means and how to fix it |
|---|---|
#VALUE! | The joined text was used in arithmetic, as when the whole call is divided by zero. |
#NAME? | CONCAT is typed as CONCATE, and the sheet has no function by that name. |
No space | The call =CONCAT(A2,B2) passes no separator, so the two names come out as AdaLovelace and the grader rejects it. |
At work
A mailing list where first and last names arrive in separate columns and the export needs one name field.