How To Combine Multiple Cells Into A Cell With Space, Commas or other separators In Excel?
When you combine the cells from multiple columns or rows into a single cell, the combined data may be separated by nothing. But if you want to separate them with specified marks, such as space, commas, semicolon or others, how can you do? This tutorial will introduce some methods for you.
- Concatenate row or column of cells into one cell with space, comma or other separators by using formulas
- Concatenate row or column of cells into one cell with space, comma or other separators by the User Defined Function
- Concatenate row or column of cells into one cell with line break by using formulas
- Concatenate row, column or range of cells into one cell with specified separator by using a wonderful feature
Comparison of Methods for Combining Cells with Spaces, Commas, or Other Separators in Excel
Excel provides several ways to combine values from multiple cells into one cell while separating the results with spaces, commas, semicolons, line breaks, or other delimiters. The following table compares the main methods introduced in this article.
| Feature | & Operator | CONCATENATE | TEXTJOIN | User Defined Function | Kutools Combine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combine multiple cells into one | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Custom separator | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Combine cells across a row | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Combine cells down a column | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Combine an entire multi-row, multi-column range directly | Manual cell references | Manual cell references | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Use a line break as separator | Possible with CHAR(10) | ✔ with CHAR(10) | ✔ with CHAR(10) | Possible | ✔ |
| Ignore blank cells easily | Manual handling | Manual handling | ✔ | Depends on code | ✔ |
| Requires formulas | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ (Custom Function) | ✘ |
| Requires VBA | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Excel version limitation | No major limitation | No major limitation | Excel 365 and later (as described in the article) | Requires VBA support | Requires Kutools for Excel |
| Formula complexity as the number of cells increases | High | High | Low | Low after setup | None |
| Setup process | Enter each cell reference and separator with the & operator, then fill the formula down if needed. | Enter each cell and separator as arguments in CONCATENATE, then fill the formula down. | Specify the delimiter, whether to ignore empty cells, and the source range in TEXTJOIN. | Insert the VBA code, create the Combine function, and then use the custom function in the worksheet. | Select the range, open Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data, choose the combination method and separator, and click OK. |
| Best for | Combining a small number of known cells | Traditional formula-based concatenation | Flexible formula-based concatenation of ranges | Users who need a reusable custom function | Quickly combining rows, columns, or entire ranges without formulas |
| Ease of use | Easy | Easy | Very easy | Advanced | Very easy |
Concatenate row or column of cells into one cell with space, comma or other separators by using formulas
In Excel, you can use the below formulas to combine a row of cells or a column of cells into a single cell.
- Method A: Use "&" operator to combine cells
- Method B: Use Concatenate function to combine cells
- Method C: Use Textjoin function to combine cells (Excel 365 and later versions)
Method A: Use "&" operator to combine cells
In Excel, you can use the "&" operator to combine different text strings or cell values.
Please enter the below formula to concatenate the cells in multiple columns: (separate the combined results with space, you can replace the blank with other separators as you need.)
And then, drag the fill handle down to the cells that you want to apply this formula, and the data from different columns have been merged into one cell, see screenshot:
- Tips:
- In the above formula, you can replace the blanks between the & operators with other separators, such as =A2&"-"&B2&"-"&C2
- If you need to combine the cell values from multiple rows, you just need to change the cell reference as this: =A2&" "&A3&" "&A4&" "&A5&" "&A6&" "&A7
Method B: Use Concatenate function to combine cells
The Concatenate function in Excel is also used to join multiple text strings or cell values into one cell.
Please enter or copy the below formula into a blank cell:
And then, drag the fill handle down to the cells that you want to apply this formula, you will get the following result:
- Tips:
- In the above formula, you can replace the “-” character with other separators, such as =CONCATENATE(A2, ";", B2, ";", C2)
- If you need to combine the cell values from multiple rows, you just need to change the cell reference as this: =CONCATENATE(A2, "-", A3, "-", A4, "-", A5, "-", A6, "-", A7)
Method C: Use Textjoin function to combine cells
If you have Excel 365 and later versions, there is new function-Textjoin, this function also can help you to combine multiple cells into one cell.
Enter or copy the following formula into a blank cell:
Then, drag the fill handle to apply this formula to other cells, see screenshot:
- Tips:
- In the above formula, you can replace the “,” character with other separators, such as =TEXTJOIN("/",TRUE,A2:C2)
- To combine the cell values from multiple rows, you just need to change the cell reference as this: =TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,A2:A7)
- This TEXTJOIN also can combine a range of cells into a single cell with a delimiter as this: =TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,A2:C7)
Concatenate row, column or range of cells into one cell with a specified separator
Kutools for Excel supports a powerful feature-Combine which can help you to merge all data based on rows, columns or a range of cells into one record without losing data. Please see the below demo. Click to download Kutools for Excel!
Concatenate row or column of cells into one cell with space, comma or other separators by the User Defined Function
In Excel, you can also create a User Defined Function to combine cells of row or column into a single cell with spaces or specified marks.
1. Hold ALT + F11 keys on the keyboard to open a Microsoft Visual Basic for Application window.
2. Click Insert > Module, and copy the VBA into the module.
VBA: Combine cells based on row or column into one with specific separator:
Function Combine(WorkRng As Range, Optional Sign As String = "~") As String
Dim Rng As Range
Dim OutStr As String
For Each Rng In WorkRng
If Rng.Text <> " " Then
OutStr = OutStr & Rng.Text & Sign
End If
Next
Combine = Left(OutStr, Len(OutStr) - 1)
End Function
Tip: In the above script "Function Combine(WorkRng As Range, Optional Sign As String = "~") As String", the separator "~" is specified to separate the combined result, you can change it to meet your need.
3. Then please type formula =Combine(A2:C2) in a blank cell, and then drag the fill handle over the range that you want to apply this formula, all of the cells in the row will be combined into a cell with dashes. See screenshot:
Tips: With above User Defined Function, you can also combine cell values based on column, you just need to enter this formula =Combine(A2:A7) to get the merged data as you need.
Concatenate row or column of cells into one cell with line break by using formulas
Sometimes, you may want to use the line break to separate the concatenated text string, normally, the CHAR(10) will return the line break character. Here, you can use the below methods to solve this task:
- Method A: Use Concatenate function to combine cells with line break
- Method B: Use Textjoin function to combine cells with line break (Excel 365 and later versions)
Method A: Use Concatenate function to combine cells with line break
Here, you can combine the concatenate function with the Char(10) character together to get the merged result which is separated by line break.
1. Please type or copy the below formula:
Then, drag the fill handle down to the cells you want to apply this formula, and you will get the following result:
2. Then, you should click Home > Wrap Text to format the cells, and then, you will get the result as you need:
Tips: To combine the cell values from multiple rows, you just need to change the cell reference as this: =CONCATENATE(A2,CHAR(10),A3,CHAR(10),A4,CHAR(10),A5,CHAR(10),A6,CHAR(10),A7)
Method B: Use Textjoin function to combine cells with line break (Excel 365 and later versions)
May be the above formula is somewhat difficult if there are multiple cells needed to be combined, so, the Textjoin function can deal with this task quickly and easily.
Please enter or copy the below formula into a blank cell:
After getting the combined results, please remember to format the formula cells to Wrap Text, see screenshot:
Tips: To combine the cell values from multiple rows, you just need to change the cell reference as this: =TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10),TRUE,A2:A7)
Concatenate row, column or range of cells into one cell with specified separator by using a wonderful feature
If you are annoying with the above formulas and code, here, I can recommend a useful tool- Kutools for Excel, with its Combine feature, you can quickly combine cell values by row, column or a range into one single cell.
Tips:To apply this Combine feature, firstly, you should download the Kutools for Excel, and then apply the feature quickly and easily.
After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as this:
1. Select a range cell values that you want to combine into a cell.
2. Please apply this function by clicking Kutools > Merge & Split > Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data. See screenshot:
3. In the popped out dialog box, please specify the operations you need as following screenshot shown:
4. Then, click Ok, you will get the result as below screenshot shown:
1). Combine cell values into one cell for each row:
2). Combine cell values into one cell for each column:
3). combine a range of cell values into one single cell:
 |  |  |
Click to Download Kutools for Excel and free trial Now!
Conclusion
The & operator and CONCATENATE function are straightforward choices when only a small number of cells need to be combined, but their formulas become increasingly long as more cells are added. TEXTJOIN is a more efficient formula-based solution because it can apply one delimiter to an entire range and can ignore empty cells, making it particularly useful for larger ranges.
The User Defined Function provides additional flexibility and can be reused after it has been created, but it requires VBA code and is therefore better suited to users who are comfortable working with macros.
Kutools for Excel's Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data provides the most direct no-formula approach. It can combine values by row, by column, or from an entire range into a single cell while allowing users to choose the required separator. This makes it especially convenient when multiple ranges need to be processed without building formulas or VBA functions.
More relative combine rows and columns articles:
- Merge Cells (combine cells contents) Without Losing Data In Excel
- We may combine cells and their contents in Microsoft Excel frequently. However, do you find out the easiest way to combine cell contents? Here we will talk about how to combine cell contents in Excel easily and quickly.
- Merge And Combine Rows Without Losing Data In Excel
- Excel only keeps the data in the upper-left most cell, if you apply "Merge & Center" command (Home tab > Merge & Center on the Alignment panel) to merge rows of data in Excel. Users have to use another method to merge multiple rows of data into one row without deleting data.
- Combine Duplicate Rows And Sum The Values In Excel
- In Excel，you may always meet this problem, when you have a range of data which contains some duplicate entries, and now you want to combine the duplicate data and sum the corresponding values in another column, as following screenshots shown. How could you solve this problem?
- Combine Date And Time Into One Cell In Excel
- There are two columns in a worksheet, one is the date, the other is time, as shown as below, is there any way to quickly combine these two columns into one, and keep the time format?
- Concatenate Cells Ignore Or Skip Blanks In Excel
- Excel’s Concatenate function can help you to combine multiple cell values into one cell quickly, if there are some blank cells within the selected cells, this function will combine the blanks as well. But, sometime, you just want to concatenate cells with data and skip the empty cells, how could you finish it in Excel?
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