Hello Nairalanders,
In ds series, i will be showing Ms Excel users how to perform quick manipulation of data and analysis through the use of powerful functions and formula in Ms Excel. These can help users who handle large data in their day to day usage of spreadsheet.

1. CONCATENATE

Concatenate is an Excel function that allow u to join text strings into a single text. it can also be used to bring texts in different cells into a single cell. I ve used this most of the time and it can save 90% of ur normal processing time if used effectively.

The process is simple. E.g i can combine 234 and 8030032712 in different cells together to give 2348030032712 in a single cell using ds functions without having to retype d no. U can see d amount of time u ll save if u ar to process about 10,000 of mobile no.

EXERCISE 1.

D snapshot below shows d names of one big online supermarket customers. It is required of d data analyst to combine the surname and firstname into a single a cell for further processing. D customer's records are up to 20,000.



SOLUTION 1.

Set up ur excel sheet as shown above.
Select cell (E3) and type =conc (typing = informs excel to switch to formula mode, allways do ds for any form of formula/function)
U ll see d function showing (concatenate). Now double click on it to select and complete it as below.

=concatenate(B3," ",C3) and press enter. D surname and first name in cell B3 and C3 will b combined in cell E3

Note: d " " in between is necessary because we want to achieve a space between the two names as (JOHN SIMBI) not (JOHNSIMBI)



U should hav JOHN SIMBI in cell E3 now.

Select E3 and move ur cursor to d lower right corner of cell E3 whr u hav a black dot (dts d drag handle)



Click, hold down and drag it downward upto d last record, then drop. U should hav all cells filled now wit d required data.



That's it.

U can extend its application to other forms of record as required.

Hope u gained something. Fell free to ask questions.


Pan African
Institute of Professional Studies
Nigeria