How to reverse the concatenate function in Excel?

As we all known, the Concatenate function in Excel can help us to combine multiple cells into one cell, but, sometimes, you want to do the opposite of Concatenate function, it means not combine cells, but split cell value into multiple separated cells. Have you ever thought of reversing the Concatenate function in Excel?

Reverse the concatenate function to split cell value to multiple cells with formula

Reverse the concatenate function to split cell value to multiple cells with Text to Columns

Reverse the concatenate function to split cell value to multiple cells with Kutools for Excel

Reverse the concatenate function to split cell value to multiple cells with formula

In Excel, to split cell value into multiple cells, the following formula can help you, please do as follows:

1. Enter this formula: =TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE($A2,",",REPT(" ",999)),COLUMNS($A:A)*999-998,999)) into a blank cell where you want to put the result, and drag the fill handle right to the cells to contain this formula, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 1

2. And then go on dragging the fill handle down to the range of cells to apply this formula, and all cell values have been split into separated cells by a comma, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 2

Note: In the above formula, you can also split the cell values to multiple cells based on any other separator, you just need to change the comma between the quotes to other delimiters you want.

Reverse concatenate function to split cells into separate columns

With Kutools for Excel’s Split Cells utility, you can quickly split text string in a cell into multiple columns or rows by space, comma, new line and any other separators you specified. Click to download Kutools for Excel!

Reverse the concatenate function to split cell value to multiple cells with Text to Columns

Actually, in Excel, the Text to Columns feature is opposite of the concatenate function, you can apply it to split cell values into multiple cells by any separators you need.

1. Select the cells that you want to split.

2. Click Data > Text to Columns, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 3

3. In Step 1 of the Convert Text To Columns Wizard, select Delimited option, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 4

4. Then click Next button, in Step 2 of the wizard, specify the separator that you want to use under the Delimiters option, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 5

5. Go on clicking Next button, in Step 3 of the wizard, check General under the Column data format, and then select a cell where you want to locate the split values, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 6

6. Then, click Finish button, the selected cell values have been split into multiple columns, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 7

Reverse the concatenate function to split cell value to multiple cells with Kutools for Excel

With Kutools for Excel’s Split Cells feature, you can split the cell contents into multiple columns or rows you need.

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After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as follows:

1. Select the data range that you want to split.

2. Click Kutools > Merge & Split > Split Cells, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 8-8

3. In the Split Cells dialog box, select Split to Rows or Split to Columns that you want, and then specify a separator to split the cell values based on, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 9-9

4. Click Ok button, and a prompt box will pop out to remind you select a cell to output the result, see screenshot:

doc reverse concatenate 10

5. And then click OK, you will get the following results:

Split cell values into multiple columns:

doc reverse concatenate 11

Split cell values into multiple rows:

doc reverse concatenate 12

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Reverse the concatenate function to split cell value to multiple cells with Kutools for Excel

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Comments (16)

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Md. Abu Kaisar

about 6 years ago

#18413

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Thanks a lot for your cooperation. Lucky to have you.

SFields

about 5 years ago

#19276

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Thank you very much for all the detail. It was very easy to follow. We may take all the classes in the world, but when you don't use the functions regularly, you forget. I have bookmarked your site for future use. Thank you.

James Hoover

about 5 years ago

#19642

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Currently making a scrabble scorer to determine scored points in my scrabble games. I really needed this to simplify the work being done. Ty.

Takawira Dirani

about 5 years ago

#21087

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Thank you so much, helpful indeed. What if there is no comma delimiter in between the words like, "Steve Simpson" and you still want to split?

Takawira Dirani

about 5 years ago

#21088

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

oh snap, i got it above...using text to columns then split option = 'space'

jackie t

about 5 years ago

#21359

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Excellent directions!

swapni

about 5 years ago

#23092

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

you are A Rong Talling thissss formula

swapni

about 5 years ago

#23094

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

sorry I m not see perfect in first time
this formula is perfect and correct

Raj Kumar

about 2 years ago

#32341

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

my query is below
from given data
A B
1 Capital Account Capital Account 6,62,73,000.00
2 SHARE CAPITAL A/C SHARE CAPITAL A/C 67,17,300.00
3 SHARE PREMIUM A/C SHARE PREMIUM A/C 5,95,55,700.00

I need in column C (C + B-A) i.e
C
1 6,62,73,000.00

2 67,17,300.00

3 5,95,55,700.00

Suresh

about 2 years ago

#34498

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

just want to know if in a cell content i.e (123). can it be splitted to multiple column seperately as cell1 as 1, cell2 as 2 and cell3 as 3

David

about 1 year ago

#34969

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Thank you for this. I had a strange occurence where two strings of text produced #Value!, while all the rest was fine. Any idea why this would happen?

David

about 1 year ago

#34970

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

I believe it has something to do with having over a certain amount of value in a cell. How does one use this formula with large strings?

Nasser Emami

about 6 months ago

#39149

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

skyyang Nasser Emami

about 6 months ago

#39182

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Hello, Emami

To split the data you provided, both the formula and Text to Column feature can help you. please do as this:
Method1: formula: (After pasting the formula, drag the fill handle right to get the first line result, and then drag the fill handle down to get other results.)

=TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE($A1,"|",REPT(" ",999)),COLUMNS($A:A)*999-998,999))

https://www.extendoffice.com/images/stories/comments/comment-skyyang/doc-reverse-concatenate.png

Method2: Text to Column:
By using Text to Column feature step by step, and in step3, please enter | character into Other box:

https://www.extendoffice.com/images/stories/comments/comment-skyyang/doc-reverse-concatenate-2.png

Please try, hope it can help you!

Report

Nasser Emami skyyang

about 6 months ago

#39283

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Dear skyyang,
Many thanks for the reply.
First, I cannot use the text to column method because this process has to be done automatically by a formula.
Second, the problem is the table output I receive from csv file (the form entry) is saved in a single cell not in three rows.
ie. All three rows (A1:A4) are stored in one single cell not 4 cell in 4 rows.
I hope you understand my problem and can provide me with a solution.

thanks.

skyyang Nasser Emami

about 6 months ago

#39291

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Hello, Emami,
If your data in a single cell, first, you should split the data into multiple rows based on the line breaks. to split the data into rows, please use this code:

Sub SplitCells()
'Update by Extendoffice
Dim Rng As Range
Dim WorkRng As Range
On Error Resume Next
xTitleId = "KutoolsforExcel"
Set WorkRng = Application.Selection
Set WorkRng = Application.InputBox("Range", xTitleId, WorkRng.Address, Type:=8)
For Each Rng In WorkRng
    lLFs = VBA.Len(Rng) - VBA.Len(VBA.Replace(Rng, vbLf, ""))
    If lLFs > 0 Then
        Rng.Offset(1, 0).Resize(lLFs).Insert shift:=xlShiftDown
        Rng.Resize(lLFs + 1).Value = Application.WorksheetFunction.Transpose(VBA.Split(Rng, vbLf))
    End If
Next
End Sub

Applying the code to split the data into multiple rows, see screenshot:

https://www.extendoffice.com/images/stories/comments/comment-skyyang/doc-split-data.png

Then, you can use this formula to split them into multiple columns as you need.

=TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE($A1,"|",REPT(" ",999)),COLUMNS($A:A)*999-998,999))

Please have a try, hope it can help you, if you have any other problem, please comment here.

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