128 PCWorld APRIL 2020HERE’S HOW EXCEL FUNCTIONS AND TOOLS
formula in column C:
=CONCATENATE(A4,” “,B4) or
=CONCAT(B4,” “,C4), then copy the
formula down. What are the double quotes
for? See Note below #2.- Enter a few cities (or ski resorts) in
column F, states in column G, and ZIP codes
in column H. Enter the following formula in
column I: =CONCATENATE(F4, “,”, “ “,
G4,” “,H4).
NOTE: If you want a space between the
first and last name, you must enter that space
inside quotation marks in your formula. The
same thing is true for punctuation, such as a
comma between city and state. In the
following formula the “,” (quote comma
quote—in red) tells Excel to insert a comma
between the data in F15 (city) and the data in
G15 (state). The “ “ (quote space quote—in
purple) adds a space after the comma
between F15 (city) and G15 (state) and
another space between G15 (state) and H15
(zip code).
=CONCATENATE(F15, ”,”, ” “,
G15, ” “,H15). - TRIM
This function removes extra (or padded)
spaces that infect your data as a result of
user error, downloading data from an
external source such as the Internet, or
importing data from another computer
system. And you don’t have to “tell Excel”
where the spaces are located in the string
of text in each cell; it recognizes the extra
spaces and removes them. Note,
however, that it will not remove a space in
the middle of a word. The syntax is simple:
=TRIM(cell address).- Enter some data in column A. Add
some spaces before, after, and in the middle
of multiple words, then enter the following
formula in cell A4: =TRIM(A4). - Copy the formula down. It’s that easy!
NOTE: There is one case where this
Use CONCAT & CONCATENATE to combine data
from multiple cells into one cell.