MS Excel - Concat with a delimiter

Question

I've got a long spreadsheet with numbers.

I need to get them in one string delimited by ; eg. 4364453;24332432;2342432

I know I can do:

=concat(A1:A2000)

but that will merge it in one string without the delimiter - I can't seem to find an option for a delimiter when you specify a range.

Thank you

Answer 1

Use TEXTJOIN() instead:

=TEXTJOIN(";",TRUE,A1:A2000)

---

For those who do not have OFFICE 365 Excel then use this UDF that mimics the TEXTJOIN Function.

Put this in a module attached to the workbook and use the formula above to call.

Function TEXTJOIN(delim As String, skipblank As Boolean, arr)
    Dim d As Long
    Dim c As Long
    Dim arr2()
    Dim t As Long, y As Long
    t = -1
    y = -1
    If TypeName(arr) = "Range" Then
        arr2 = arr.Value
    Else
        arr2 = arr
    End If
    On Error Resume Next
    t = UBound(arr2, 2)
    y = UBound(arr2, 1)
    On Error GoTo 0

    If t >= 0 And y >= 0 Then
        For c = LBound(arr2, 1) To UBound(arr2, 1)
            For d = LBound(arr2, 1) To UBound(arr2, 2)
                If arr2(c, d) <> "" Or Not skipblank Then
                    TEXTJOIN = TEXTJOIN & arr2(c, d) & delim
                End If
            Next d
        Next c
    Else
        For c = LBound(arr2) To UBound(arr2)
            If arr2(c) <> "" Or Not skipblank Then
                TEXTJOIN = TEXTJOIN & arr2(c) & delim
            End If
        Next c
    End If
    TEXTJOIN = Left(TEXTJOIN, Len(TEXTJOIN) - Len(delim))
End Function

Answer 2

If you're like me and your work computer has an old version of Excel that does not have TEXTJOIN, you can use a macro. Here's something quick I mocked up that will do either a single column or a single row. Just click where you want the resulting string to be placed, then run the macro.

Note that this will only handle one row or one column, like in your example data. If you wanted to do something like concatenate A1:C3 you'd need different logic.

Sub ConcatenateRange()

Dim resultCell As Range
    Set resultCell = Selection

Dim concatRange As Range
    Set concatRange = Application.InputBox("Select a range", "Obtain Range Object", Type:=8)

Dim optionalSeparator As String
    optionalSeparator = Chr(34) & InputBox("Any Separator?") & Chr(34)

Dim outputString As String
    outputString = "=TRIM(CONCATENATE("

Dim rangeSize As Integer
    rangeSize = concatRange.Columns.count + concatRange.Rows.count

For Each item In concatRange
    outputString = outputString & item.Address(RowAbsolute:=False, ColumnAbsolute:=False)

    rangeSize = rangeSize - 1

    If (rangeSize > 1) Then
        outputString = outputString & ", " & optionalSeparator & ", "
    Else
        outputString = outputString & "))"
    End If
Next

resultCell.formula = outputString

End Sub

Answer 3

Use TRANSPOSE function:

=TRANSPOSE(A1:A200)

Select the formula and hit F2 and you will get a long string with a default delimiter ',' which can be replaced with your required delimiter.