How to Join Text with the Ampersand (&) in Excel

The & operator glues cells, spaces and words into names and sentences — and with TEXT, it keeps numbers looking right.

You will learn to

• Join two cells with a space using &
• Build a sentence that mixes text and numbers
• Keep currency formatting with TEXT inside a join

How it works

The ampersand joins whatever is on either side of it into one piece of text: =A2&" "&B2 turns "Ana" and "Ruiz" into "Ana Ruiz". Anything in quotes is added literally, so remember the spaces — =A2&B2 gives "AnaRuiz". You can chain as many pieces as you like, which makes & perfect for sentences such as =A2&" has "&D2&" seats".

The catch: & uses a number's raw value, not its cell formatting. A bill of $2,360.00 joins as "2360". Wrap the number in TEXT to control how it looks: =A2&" owes "&TEXT(E2,"$#,##0.00").

=A2&" "&B2