How to concatenate values in Excel?

Question

I have a spreadsheet that looks something like this:

   A B C D E ...
1| 1 0 0 1 0
2| 0 1 0 0 1
3| 0 0 0 1 0
4| 1 0 0 0 0

I'd like to concatenate row 1 in column F so that it returns: 10010

But entering =concatenate(A1:E1) returns an error #VALUE! and using an array formula ({=concatenate(A1:E1)}) returns just 1.

This method gets me close, but it removes the formula so I can't drag down and concatenate all rows.

Why does Excel make concatenating so hard? Is there another way to do this without using VBA?

Answer 1

In F1 enter:

=A1 & B1 & C1 & D1 & E1

and copy down.

EDIT#1:

If you want to bite the bullet and use VBA, then consider this tiny UDF

Public Function KonKatenate(rIN As Range) As String
    Dim r As Range
    For Each r In rIN
        KonKatenate = KonKatenate & r.Text
    Next r
End Function

User Defined Functions (UDFs) are very easy to install and use:

1. ALT-F11 brings up the VBE window
2. ALT-I ALT-M opens a fresh module
3. paste the stuff in and close the VBE window

If you save the workbook, the UDF will be saved with it. If you are using a version of Excel later then 2003, you must save the file as .xlsm rather than .xlsx

To remove the UDF:

1. bring up the VBE window as above
2. clear the code out
3. close the VBE window

To use the UDF from Excel:

=KonKatenate(A1:Z1)

To learn more about macros in general, see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

and

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee814735(v=office.14).aspx

and for specifics on UDFs, see:

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/WritingFunctionsInVBA.aspx

Macros must be enabled for this to work!

Answer 2

The CONCATENATE function in Excel is frustratingly limited. As far as I can see, your only option for having a fill-able concatenation formula is to bite the bullet and enter the address of each term as a separate argument.

=CONCATENATE(A1,B1,C1,D1,E1)

Sorry, that's the best I can offer without VBA. I hope you don't have a ton of columns.