When it comes to combining text in Excel, two commonly used functions are TEXTJOIN and CONCATENATE. While both functions serve a similar purpose, there are some key differences that set them apart.
CONCATENATE
The CONCATENATE function in Excel is used to join multiple text strings together. It takes two or more arguments and combines them into a single text string. For example, if you have the text “Hello” in cell A1 and “World” in cell B1, you can use CONCATENATE(A1, B1) to get the result “HelloWorld”.
TEXTJOIN
TEXTJOIN, on the other hand, is a more advanced function introduced in Excel 2016. It allows you to join multiple text strings with a specified delimiter. This means you can add a separator between each text string. For example, if you have the text “Apple” in cell A1, “Banana” in cell B1, and “Orange” in cell C1, you can use TEXTJOIN(“,”, TRUE, A1:C1) to get the result “Apple,Banana,Orange”.
Differences
One key difference between TEXTJOIN and CONCATENATE is that TEXTJOIN can handle a range of cells as input, whereas CONCATENATE only works with individual cells. This makes TEXTJOIN more versatile when you need to combine multiple text strings from different cells or ranges.
Another difference is that TEXTJOIN allows you to ignore empty cells, which can be useful when dealing with data that may contain blank cells. CONCATENATE, on the other hand, includes empty cells in the final result.
Additionally, TEXTJOIN allows you to specify whether you want to ignore or include any empty strings within the text strings being joined. This provides more control over the final output.
In summary, while both TEXTJOIN and CONCATENATE are useful for combining text in Excel, TEXTJOIN offers more flexibility and functionality, especially when dealing with multiple cells or ranges.