Skip to main content

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

arrow blue right bubble 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!

arrow blue right bubble 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

arrow blue right bubble 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.

Kutools for Excel : with more than 300 handy Excel add-ins, free to try with no limitation in 30 days. 
Go to Download
Free Trial 30 daysPurchase
PayPal / MyCommerce

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

Free Download Kutools for Excel Now!

arrow blue right bubble Reverse the concatenate function to split cell value to multiple cells with Kutools for Excel

Kutools for Excel: with more than 300 handy Excel add-ins, free to try with no limitation in 30 days. Download and free trial Now!

 

Best Office Productivity Tools

Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup  |   Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar   |  Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells   |  Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets:  12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...

kte tab 201905

Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!

 

Comments (16)
No ratings yet. Be the first to rate!
Nasser Emami
Nasser Emami
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Many thanks for your wonderful website and the helpful solutions.
I am using a form on my website to collect CVs and the excel output is like below:

Degree | College Name | Discipline | Year of Graduation | GPA
Masters | Oxford | Mathematics | 2020 | 88
Bachelors | Cambridge | Chemistry | 2016 | 76
Diploma | George's School | Arts | 2012 | 94

All the above lies in a single cell in excel / CSV file.

Can anybody please help me how I can rearrange all this into an excel table with each cell showing part of the entries.

I appreciate your solutions.

best regards,
Nasser
Reply
0
0
skyyang
skyyang     Nasser Emami
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!
Reply
Report
0
0
Nasser Emami
Nasser Emami     skyyang
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.
Reply
0
0
skyyang
skyyang     Nasser Emami
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.
Reply
Report
0
0
David
David
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?
Reply
0
0
David
David
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?
Reply
0
0
Suresh
Suresh
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
Reply
0
0
Raj Kumar
Raj Kumar
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
Reply
0
0
swapni
swapni
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
Reply
0
0
swapni
swapni
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
you are A Rong Talling thissss formula
Reply
0
0
jackie t
jackie t
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Excellent directions!
Reply
0
0
Takawira Dirani
Takawira Dirani
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
oh snap, i got it above...using text to columns then split option = 'space'
Reply
0
0
Takawira Dirani
Takawira Dirani
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?
Reply
0
0
There are no comments posted here yet
Load More
Please leave your comments in English
Guest
Posting as Guest
×
Rate this post:
Reset
0   Characters
Suggested Locations