Add text and numbers in excel

Let’s say you need to create a grammatically correct sentence from several columns of data to prepare a mass mailing. Or, maybe you need to format numbers with text without affecting formulas that use those numbers. In Excel, there are several ways to combine text and numbers.

Use a number format to display text before or after a number in a cell

If a column that you want to sort contains both numbers and text—such as Product #15, Product #100, Product #200—it may not sort as you expect. You can format cells that contain 15, 100, and 200 so that they appear in the worksheet as Product #15, Product #100, and Product #200.

Use a custom number format to display the number with text—without changing the sorting behavior of the number. In this way, you change how the number appears without changing the value.

Follow these steps:

1. Select the cells that you want to format.

2. On the Home tab, in the Number group, click the arrow .
   

3. In the Category list, click a category such as Custom, and then click a built-in format that resembles the one that you want.

4. In the Type field, edit the number format codes to create the format that you want.

   To display both text and numbers in a cell, enclose the text characters in double quotation marks (» «), or precede the numbers with a backslash ().

   NOTE: Editing a built-in format does not remove the format.

To display	Use this code	How it works
12 as Product #12	«Product # » 0	The text enclosed in the quotation marks (including a space) is displayed before the number in the cell. In the code, «0» represents the number contained in the cell (such as 12).
12:00 as 12:00 AM EST	h:mm AM/PM «EST»	The current time is shown using the date/time format h:mm AM/PM, and the text «EST» is displayed after the time.
-12 as $-12.00 Shortage and 12 as $12.00 Surplus	$0.00 «Surplus»;$-0.00 «Shortage»	The value is shown using a currency format. In addition, if the cell contains a positive value (or 0), «Surplus» is displayed after the value. If the cell contains a negative value, «Shortage» is displayed instead.

Combine text and numbers from different cells into the same cell by using a formula

When you do combine numbers and text in a cell, the numbers become text and no longer function as numeric values. This means that you can no longer perform any math operations on them.

To combine numbers, use the CONCATENATE or CONCAT, TEXT or TEXTJOIN functions, and the ampersand (&) operator.
 

Notes: 

• In Excel 2016, Excel Mobile, and Excel for the web, CONCATENATE has been replaced with the CONCAT function. Although the CONCATENATE function is still available for backward compatibility, you should consider using CONCAT, because CONCATENATE may not be available in future versions of Excel.

• TEXTJOIN combines the text from multiple ranges and/or strings, and includes a delimiter you specify between each text value that will be combined. If the delimiter is an empty text string, this function will effectively concatenate the ranges. TEXTJOIN is not available in Excel 2013 and previous versions.

Examples

See various examples in the figure below.

Look closely at the use of the TEXT function in the second example in the figure. When you join a number to a string of text by using the concatenation operator, use the TEXT function to control the way the number is shown. The formula uses the underlying value from the referenced cell (.4 in this example) — not the formatted value you see in the cell (40%). You use the TEXT function to restore the number formatting.

Need more help?

You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the Answers community.

See Also

• CONCATENATE function

• CONCAT function

• TEXT function

• TEXTJOIN function

There may be times when you need to insert the identical text into all of the cells that are contained inside a column. It’s possible that a specific title needs to go before the names in a list, or that a specific symbol needs to go at the end of the text in each cell. Both of these things need to be done. The task of adding text or numbers to cells in Excel is one of the most often performed tasks. Including things like inserting spaces between names, including prefixes and suffixes in cells, and inserting dashes in social security numbers.

Excel provides some extremely simple ways that you can add text to the beginning or end of the text that is present in a range of cells. These can be done independently of one another.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn about some methods to add text into specified position of cell.

Using ampersand (&) Operator

A useful feature of the operator represented by the ampersand (&) is to combine many text strings into a single one.

Let’s see one example and understand step by step how we can add text in a specific position in a cell.

Step 1

In our example, we have name of some lecturer who are promoted to get a position of professor. We have to add Professor before their name.

Step 2

Select one blank cell and write the following formula to add text before the name. In our example we have selected the cell B2 and written the formula to add Professor before the name of the lecturers there.

="text "&cell 

In our example, we have written the following formula

="Professor "&A2 

After pressing Enter, we will see the text Professor has been added before
the names.

Step 3

To get the result in all the remaining cells, click on the ‘+’ sign appears on the lower right corner of the cell B2, which activates the autofill function and then drag down.

Using CONCATENATE Function

Excel’s CONCATENATE function is a very useful one since it enables users to insert text both at the beginning and the end of a string of text. In terms of the functionality that it provides, the CONCATENATE() function is
comparable to the ampersand (&) operator. The only distinction between the two is in the manner in which they are utilized. This function is applicable to us at the beginning to the end of the text.

Add text at the beginning of cell

Step 1

In our example, we have the names of some professors who used to be lecturers. We need to put «Professor» in front of their name. See the following image.

Step 2

We want to add text at the beginning of the names. To add at the beginning of the names, write the following formula at the formula bar.

=CONCATENATE("TEXT",cell) 

In our example, we want to add the text “Professor” at the beginning

=CONCATENATE("Professor ",A2) 

After pressing enter, we will see the text Professor has been added before the names. See the following image.

Step 3

To get the result in all the other cells, click the «+» sign in the lower right corner of cell B2. This turns on the autofill feature, and you can then drag down. See the following image.

Add text at the end of cell

Let’s suppose we want to add the department id at the end of the names of the professors given in above example.

Step 1

Write the following formula to add the text at the end of the cell.

= CONCATENATE(Cell,"Text")

In our example we are writing the following formula and press enter.

=CONCATENATE(B2,"(1201025)") 

See the following image.

Step 2

Choose cell C2, drag the Fill Handle down to the cell you want to fill with this formula. See the below picture.

Add Text in Middle of Cell

Step 1

In our example, we have some Roll Numbers in our Excel sheet and we want to add SOC in the middle of the roll no. See the following image.

Step 2 

To add SOC in the middle of the Roll No., write the following formula and press enter.

=LEFT(A2,2) & "SOC" & MID(A2,3,100) 

See the following image.

Step 3

Choose cell B2, drag the Fill Handle down to the cell you want to fill with this formula.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learnt how to add text and number into a specified position of cell in Excel.

Combining Text and Numbers from Separate Cells

We begin with a small table that contains names (text) in column A and amounts (numbers) in column B.

Our goal is to have the name and amount for each row of the table displayed in a single cell (column C).

This needs to be done dynamically so that a change in either the name or amount will trigger an update in the combined version in column C.

This can be accomplished with a CONCATENATE function.

CONCATENATE is a big, fancy word for “join things together”.

Excel has a dedicated CONCATENATE function, but most users will opt to use the simplified version of CONCATENATE… the ampersand (&) symbol.

For example, we begin in cell C2 and write the following formula:

=A2 & B2

Pressing ENTER to commit the formula results in the following:

This is the purest form of concatenation; everything is just smashed together.  It works, but it’s not visually appealing.

Concatenation is not limited to existing content.  We can inject new content into the formula to enhance the results.  In our case, we’ll inject a ‘space’ to provide visual padding between the name and the amount.

The ‘space’ needs to be surrounded by double-quotes.  Any injected text needs to be surrounded by double-quotes.

=A2 & " " & B2

The updated formula’s result is a bit easier to read.

Think of the ampersand character as the word “and”.  “Display the name in cell A2 and a space and the number in cell B2.”

You can place anything you wish between the two double-quotes, like a dash, slash, or any other character.

Returning to using a ‘space’, we fill the formula down to the remaining rows to reveal the following:

Formatting the Numbers in the Result

If we need to represent the numbers in the result as money (we’ll use U.S. Dollars in our example) we can’t just click the dollar sign button on the ribbon.  The formatting codes for Currency Style are rendered inert with the presence of the concatenated text.

But not to worry; we have a solution.

We can apply number formatting to the result via the TEXT function.

The Excel TEXT function has the following syntax:

=TEXT(value, format_text)

• value – This can be a static value, a reference to a cell that contains a value, or a formula that returns a value.
• format_text – This is the formatting code(s) that determine the way numbers are presented.

For our numbers, we want to display a dollar sign and a comma for every three place values.  We also want to show zero if the number is zero.

Our codes for this are:

“$#,##0”

The formatting codes are always placed within a set of double-quotes.

Our formula would be updated as follows:

=A2 & " " & TEXT(B2, "$#,##0")

Committing our new formula to all rows of the tale gives us a much more appealing result.

As the values in column B change, the TEXT functions in column C will apply the appropriate number formatting.

For more information on the formatting codes and uses in the TEXT function, visit the following link.

Microsoft Excel’s TEXT Function

PRO TIP:

If you are unsure what formatting codes to use, an easy way to figure it out is to do the following:

1. Select a cell with the number you want to format (ex: cell B2) and press F1 to open the number formatting dialog box.
2. Select the category (on the left) then the desired formatting (on the right).

1. Select the “Custom” category (on the left) to reveal the underlying codes needed to support the selection from Step 2.

By applying different formatting options and examining the underlying codes, you will likely figure out many of the symbol’s purposes.

Using Aggregation Functions Inside a Formatting Function

Because the first argument in the TEXT function can be a formula, we can embed an aggregation function, like SUM, into the formula to produce a formatted aggregation.

="Base: " & TEXT(SUM(B2:B5), "$#,##0")

The SUM function provides the aggregation which is then passed off to the TEXT function that applies the formatting codes.

The final touch is to concatenate the text string “Base: ” to the front of the formatted number.

We can write a similar formula for the bonus column.

="Bonus: " & TEXT(SUM(B2:B5), "$#,##0")

“What if we want to add the ‘Base” and ‘Bonus’ results?”

If we write a SUM function that attempts to aggregate the results of the previous two formulas, we end up with a less than desirable result.

This occurs because we have embedded text in the same cell as the result of the SUM function.

Separating the Formatting from the Aggregation

We can overcome the previous issue by concatenating the desired text in a Custom Number Format to produce the same result.

This allows you to place a simple aggregation function, like SUM, in a cell without any other modifiers.

We can then select the cell containing the above formula, press F1 to open the Format Cells dialog box and apply the following custom number format.

"Base: "$#,##0

We can apply a similar formatting code sequence to the bonus columns total in cell C6.

"Bonus: "$#,##0

Adding the two SUM results now works perfectly.

NOTE: I applied the following Custom Number Format to the result to spice it up like the other aggregations.

"Total: "$#,##0

Practice Workbook

Feel free to Download the Workbook HERE.

In all versions of Excel, you can use a simple formula, with the & operator, to combine values from different cells. If you want the numbers formatted a certain way, use the TEXT function to set that up.

Video: Combine Text and Numbers

First, this video shows a simple formula to combine text and numbers in Excel. Then, see how to use the Excel TEXT function, to format the numbers in the formula.

You can type the formatting information inside the TEXT function. Or, put the formatting string in a different cell, and refer to that cell in the TEXT function.

To follow along, get the sample file on my Contextures site – How to Combine Cells

TEXTJOIN – Excel 365

If you’re using Excel 365, there’s a new TEXTJOIN function. It makes it easy to combine values from multiple cells.

This short video shows a couple of TEXTJOIN examples. First, see a simple formula to combine weekday names. Next, use the TEXT function inside TEXTJOIN, create formatted dates. There are written steps, and more examples, on my Contextures website.

Simple Formula

Even if you don’t have the new TEXTJOIN function, it’s easy combine values from multiple cells, using a simple formula. Just use the & (ampersand) operator, to join values together.

In this example:

• There’s text in cell A2, with a space character at the end.
• There’s an unformatted number in cell B2.

This formula, in cell C2, combines the text and number:

=A2 & B2

Or, if the text does not have a space character at the end, add one in the formula

=A2 & " " & B2

Format Numbers with TEXT Function

To join text with formatted numbers, use the TEXT function in the formula.

In this example:

• There’s text in cell A2, with a space character at the end.
• There’s a formatted date in cell B2.

This formula, in cell C2, combines the text and date, with formatting:

=A2 & TEXT(B2,"d-mmm")

Number Format Information

Instead of typing the number format inside the TEXT function, you could type those formats in another column, or on a different worksheet.

Then, in the TEXT function, refer to the cell with the required format.

For example, I’ve made a formatting list with named cells. Now, I can use those names in the TEXT function.

• FmtDMY    d-mmm-yyyy
• FmtCurr    $#,##0
• FmtFrac    # ?/?

In this example, the formula in C2 uses the d-mmm-yyyy format, from the cell named FmtDMY:

=A2 & TEXT(B2,FmtDMY)

The other named formats are used in cells C5 and C8.

Currency – cell C5

=A5 & TEXT(B5,FmtCurr)

Fraction – cell C8

=A8 & TEXT(B8,FmtFrac)

Get the Workbook

To see more examples of combining text and numbers, and to get the sample workbook, go to the Combine Cells page on my Contextures site.

The zipped file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

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Combine Text and Formatted Numbers in Excel

________________________________

In this article, we will learn How to Combine Text and Formatted Numbers into a Single Entity in Excel in Excel.

Scenario:

Excel considers number values in many formats like number, date, time, text, percentage or currency. These can be changed into each other. Excel converts numbers to text to use numbers as text in formulas like vlookup with numbers and text. The Excel TEXT function lets you convert the number to text. The TEXT function in Excel is used to convert numbers into text. The fun part is you can format that number to show it in the desired format. For example format a yy-mm-dd date into dd-mm-yy format. Add currency signs before a  number and many more.

TEXT formula in Excel

TEXT function is a string function which converts any value to a given format. The result may seem that it is a number but it’s in text format.

=TEXT(cell_ref, text_format)

cell_ref : value to convert using cell reference

Text_format : Format to convert

Format	Output_format
d	7
ddd	Thu
dddd	Thursday
m	2
mmm	Feb
mmmm	February
mmmmm	F
yy	19
yyyy	2019
m/d/y	2/7/19
mm/dd/yy	02/07/19
mm/dd/yyyy	02/07/2019
ddd, mmm d	Thu, Feb 7
mm/dd/yyyy h:mm AM/PM	02/07/2019 2:15 PM
mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss	07/02/2019 14:15:00

Example :

All of these might be confusing to understand. Let’s understand how to use the function using an example. Here we have some examples to convert date values to text format or any other required format.

Convert the value in A2 cell.

Use the formula in C2 cell

“0”: returns the general text format.

Press Enter and copy the formula in remaining cells using Ctrl + D

As you can see we got numbers as text output because the significance number always varied.

Here we have some numbers to convert to text format or any other required format.

Use the formula:

As you can see the value in the output cell is in Text format. 

You can use any Format_text and do your work in excel without any interruption

Add 0 before a Number

Sometimes you are needed to add 0 before some fixed digit of numbers like phone number or pin number. Use this Text formula to do so…

If you have N digits of number then in text format argument write n+1 0s.

Add Currency Before a Number

Write this text formula to add currency.

As you can see we got numbers as text output because the significance number always varied.

Concatenating a text string and a formula-calculated value. To make the result returned by some formula more understandable for your users, you can concatenate it with a text string that explains what the value actually is.
For example, you can use the following formula to return the current date:

=CONCATENATE(«Today is «,TEXT(TODAY(), «dd-mmm-yy»))

Using CONCATENATE in Excel — things to remember

To ensure that your CONCATENATE formulas always deliver the correct results, remember the following simple rules:

Excel CONCATENATE function requires at least one «text» argument to work.

Here are all the observational notes using the formula in Excel
Notes :

1. Use & operator to combine text. & operator does the same work as CONCAT function
2. In new versions of Excel, CONCATENATE is replaced with the CONCAT function, which has exactly the same syntax. The CONCATENATE function is kept for backward compatibility, it is common practice to use CONCAT instead because Excel does not give any promises that CONCATENATE will be available in future versions of Excel.

Hope this article about How to Combine Text and Formatted Numbers into a Single Entity in Excel in Excel is explanatory. Find more articles on calculating values and related Excel formulas here. If you liked our blogs, share them with your friends on Facebook. And also you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook. We would love to hear from you, do let us know how we can improve, complement or innovate our work and make it better for you. Write to us at info@exceltip.com.

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If you want to combine text with the results of a formula in a cell, you can use concatenation. Suppose you have calculated the total of a range of cells using a formula in cell D2. Now, you want to have cell A2 display the text «Today’s sales are $12,000», where $12,000 is the value calculated in D2. As the value in D2 changes, you want the value in A2 to update automatically.

For example, suppose you have calculated the total of a range of cells using a formula in cell D2. Now, you want to have cell A2 display the text «Today’s sales are $12,000», where $12,000 is the value calculated in D2. As the value in D2 changes, you want the value in A2 to update automatically.

To do this, type the following formula into A2:

=»Today’s sales are $»&D2

The secret here is to use the ampersand, &, to concatenate (or join) text and numbers together. The & symbol acts like a +, or plus sign, to join text strings together into one. A slightly more advanced version of the formula above might look like the following:

=»You owe $»&D2&», which is due in 7 days»

You can also use the CONCATENATE() function to join multiple text strings together. The syntax of this function is as follows:

=CONCATENATE(text1,text2,…)

In this function, you can join up to 30 text strings together. To achieve the same result as the first example above, you could enter the following formula:

=CONCATENATE(«Today’s sales are $»,d2)