Excel: Combine Text From 2 Cells With &, CONCAT or TEXTJOIN

To combine text from 2 cells in Excel, type =A2&" "&B2 in an empty cell: the ampersand joins the two values and the " " puts a space between them. If you prefer a function, =CONCAT(A2," ",B2) does the same thing, and =TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A2,B2) also skips blank cells so you never get stray spaces.

Below is how each option works, when to pick which one, and the small gotchas (dates, empty cells, line breaks) that trip people up. Everything here is based on Microsoft’s own documentation and a few established Excel tutorial sites, as of October 2026.

The quick method: the & operator

The ampersand (&) is Excel’s text-joining operator. It works in every version of Excel, including Excel for the web, and it is what Microsoft’s own guide to combining cells shows first.

1. Click the cell where you want the combined text (for example C2).
2. Type = and click the first cell (A2).
3. Type &" "& to add a space. Any text inside the quotes is inserted literally.
4. Click the second cell (B2) and press Enter.
5. Drag the fill handle down to copy the formula to the rest of the column.

The result is =A2&" "&B2. If A2 holds “Ada” and B2 holds “Lovelace”, C2 shows “Ada Lovelace”.

You can put any separator between the quotes:

One catch: & does not know a cell is empty. If B2 is blank, =A2&" "&B2 still adds the space, leaving a trailing space at the end. That rarely matters visually, but it can break lookups and exact-match comparisons later. TEXTJOIN (below) solves that.

Using CONCAT (and the older CONCATENATE)

If you’d rather use a function, CONCAT takes each piece as a separate argument:

=CONCAT(A2," ",B2)

According to Microsoft, CONCAT replaces the older CONCATENATE function, but CONCATENATE remains available for compatibility with earlier versions of Excel. So =CONCATENATE(A2," ",B2) still works and gives the same result.

What CONCAT adds over CONCATENATE is support for ranges: you can write =CONCAT(A2:B2) instead of listing each cell. However, Microsoft notes that CONCAT has no delimiter or ignore-empty arguments, so with a range it simply glues the values together with nothing in between. For two cells with a space, the & operator is usually just as short.

Microsoft lists CONCAT as available in Office 2019 and later on Windows and Mac, and in Microsoft 365. It accepts up to 253 text arguments.

Using TEXTJOIN to add a separator and skip blanks

TEXTJOIN is the most flexible option. Its syntax is:

=TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, [text2], ...)

• delimiter is what goes between each item, such as " " or ", ". Microsoft notes it can also be a cell reference, and an empty string makes TEXTJOIN behave like plain concatenation.
• ignore_empty set to TRUE skips blank cells, so you never get doubled or trailing separators.
• text1, text2… are the cells or ranges to join.

To combine two cells with a space:

=TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A2,B2)

or, since the cells are next to each other:

=TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A2:B2)

If B2 is empty, the result is just “Ada” with no trailing space. That makes TEXTJOIN the best pick for messy data, such as a middle-name column that is only sometimes filled in.

Like CONCAT, TEXTJOIN is available in Office 2019 and later and in Microsoft 365, per Microsoft’s documentation. Microsoft also notes that if the result exceeds 32,767 characters (the cell limit), TEXTJOIN returns a #VALUE! error.

Without a formula: Flash Fill

If you only need to combine the text once and don’t want formulas in the sheet, Flash Fill can do it by example. Microsoft uses exactly this case, combining first and last names from two columns, to explain the feature.

1. In the first row of an empty column, type the combined result yourself, for example “Ada Lovelace”, and press Enter.
2. Start typing the next row’s combined value. Excel shows a greyed-out preview for the rest of the column.
3. Press Enter to accept it.

If no preview appears, you can run it manually from Data > Flash Fill, or press Ctrl+E, which older Microsoft documentation and guides such as How-To Geek list as the shortcut.

Keep in mind that Flash Fill writes plain values, not formulas. If you later change a first name in column A, the combined column will not update. Use a formula if the source data is still changing.

Which method should you use?

If you share workbooks with people on older Excel versions, stick with & or CONCATENATE so the formula doesn’t break on their side.

Common problems and fixes

Dates or numbers lose their formatting

When you join a date to text, Excel uses the underlying value rather than what you see in the cell, so a date can show up as a long serial number. Wrap it in the TEXT function with a format code:

=A2&" - "&TEXT(B2,"dd/mm/yyyy")

The same approach works for currency or decimals, for example TEXT(B2,"0.00"). Format codes can behave differently depending on your regional settings, so check the result on your machine.

Putting each cell on its own line

To stack the two values inside one cell, use CHAR(10) (a line break on Windows) as the separator, as explained by Spreadsheet Planet:

=A2&CHAR(10)&B2 or =TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10),TRUE,A2:B2)

Then turn on Home > Wrap Text for that cell. Without Wrap Text, Excel won’t display the break.

Don’t use Merge & Center to combine text

Merge & Center sounds like the right tool, but it doesn’t combine content. As Ablebits explains, Excel keeps only the upper-left cell’s value and deletes the rest, after showing a warning. Unmerging later does not bring the deleted text back. Combine the text with a formula first, then merge the cells for layout if you really need to.

Turning formulas into plain text

If you want to delete the original columns but keep the combined result, convert the formulas to values first: copy the combined column, then use Paste Special > Values (or the Paste Values option on the Home tab) over the same cells. After that, the original columns can go without breaking anything.

Summary

For two cells, =A2&" "&B2 is the fastest and most compatible answer. Switch to =TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A2,B2) when some cells may be empty, use TEXT() when dates or numbers are involved, and reach for Flash Fill when you want a one-time result without formulas. Function availability details reflect Microsoft’s documentation as of October 2026 and may change as Excel is updated.