Excel TEXTJOIN: Combine Text with Delimiters
TEXTJOIN combines text from a range with any delimiter you choose. Replaces chained CONCATENATE or ampersand (&) formulas.
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The formula
"Join all non-empty values in a row with commas"
=TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A2:Z2)TEXTJOIN combines all non-empty cells in A2:Z2, separated by commas and a space. The TRUE argument skips empty cells, so you don't get double commas.
Step-by-step breakdown
- TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, [text2], ...)
- ", " is the delimiter placed between each value
- TRUE skips empty cells (FALSE would include them as empty strings)
- A2:Z2 is the range to combine — can be any range or multiple ranges
- Result: all values joined with commas, blanks excluded
Edge cases & warnings
- Result is limited to 32,767 characters — longer results return #VALUE!
- Requires Excel 2019, 365, or 2021+ — not available in Excel 2016
- For older Excel, use CONCATENATE or & but you can't skip blanks automatically
- TEXTJOIN can take multiple separate ranges: =TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A2:A10, C2:C10)
Examples
"Alice, , Bob, , Carol (range with blanks)"
Alice, Bob, Carol"=TEXTJOIN("-", TRUE, "2026", "02", "15")"
2026-02-15Frequently asked questions
How is TEXTJOIN different from CONCAT?
TEXTJOIN adds a delimiter between values and can skip blanks. CONCAT just joins text end-to-end. TEXTJOIN is almost always what you want.
Can I join with line breaks?
Yes. Use CHAR(10) as the delimiter: =TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10), TRUE, A2:A10). Make sure the cell has Wrap Text enabled.
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