CONCATENATE/ CATASTROPHISE
March 14, 2010 9:09 PM Subscribe
In-over-my-head-Excel-filter: I need to put little braces {like, brackets}around a whole column of values using the concetenate function.. column A has all the values I need braced- but how do I get those same values {braced} in column B?
Any help much appreciated. I've kinda been thrown in the deep end at work (that's just the start of the task!) and there's no-one around to ask!
Any help much appreciated. I've kinda been thrown in the deep end at work (that's just the start of the task!) and there's no-one around to ask!
If you put the 'mustaches' between quotes, you should be OK. Easiest is to use the ampersand, e.g. ="{"&A1&"}" for concatenate in the case of A1
posted by clarkie666 at 9:14 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by clarkie666 at 9:14 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I should probably elaborate on that as I don't know how much experience you have with excel. Click on the top cell in column B and paste ="{"&A0&"}" into the formula field. I put A0 because I assume the values start in column A, row 0. That will do what you want for that one B cell. To do it for the whole column, click and drag the square in the bottom right of the selected B cell down as far as you need to. This will apply the formula to all the other cells.
posted by sunshineunderground at 9:20 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by sunshineunderground at 9:20 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If for some reason you want to use the CONCATENATE function itself (rather than the shortcut identified above), then the formula would be:
=CONCATENATE("{",A1,"}")
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:25 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
=CONCATENATE("{",A1,"}")
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:25 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Everything above is correct. What's next?
posted by Pants! at 9:26 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Pants! at 9:26 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: golly gosh, askmefi... is there no crisis you can't avert? thanks soooo much. i was really starting to panic, there.
let me see if i run into any more trouble.
phew!
posted by Philby at 9:32 PM on March 14, 2010
let me see if i run into any more trouble.
phew!
posted by Philby at 9:32 PM on March 14, 2010
Response by poster: oh my goodness. it's all falling into place now!
posted by Philby at 9:41 PM on March 14, 2010
posted by Philby at 9:41 PM on March 14, 2010
I do this kind of thing all day long and would enjoy helping you with any other questions like this. Memail me if you like.
posted by lostburner at 11:19 AM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by lostburner at 11:19 AM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sunshineunderground at 9:14 PM on March 14, 2010 [1 favorite]