How to combine text from two cells in Excel
Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)
=A2&" "&B2Join them with & and put a space in quotes between: =A2&" "&B2. TEXTJOIN joins whole ranges with a separator.
- Result on the example
- one result per row in
C2, filled down toC6 - Works in
- Excel 2019 and later, including Microsoft 365
- Google Sheets
- Same formula
See it work
The formula is already in C2, filled down to C6. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.
How it works
The ampersand & joins text. Without the " " in the middle you get "MariaLopez"; the quotes add a literal space.
=A2&" "&B2Result"Maria Lopez"
A2"Maria"The value in A2.
A2&" ""Maria "The & operator joins as text.
B2"Lopez"The value in B2.
A2&" "&B2"Maria Lopez"The & operator joins as text.
In Google Sheets
The same formula works in Google Sheets: =A2&" "&B2. We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns the same results.
Other ways to do it
Each one was run on the same example sheet.
| Formula | Result | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| =CONCAT(A2," ",B2) | Maria Lopez, James O'Neil, Aiko Tanaka… | The function version of &. CONCATENATE does the same in older versions. |
| =TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A2:B2) | Maria Lopez, James O'Neil, Aiko Tanaka… | Joins a whole range with one separator and skips empty cells, so a missing first name doesn't leave a stray space. |
Common mistakes
- Numbers and dates lose their formatting when joined: a date becomes its serial number. Wrap them in TEXT, like
A2&" "&TEXT(B2,"mmm d"). - Google Sheets' CONCAT takes only two arguments; use & or CONCATENATE there for more.
Try it yourself
Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.
Combine text from two cells
C2, combine the first and last name with a space between them, then fill down to C6.Questions
How do I add a comma between the names?
Put it in the quotes: =B2&", "&A2 gives "Lopez, Maria".
How do I combine a whole column into one cell?
Use TEXTJOIN: =TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,A2:A6).
Checked by running on 2026-10-29: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.