XL: Visual Basic Macro to Concatenate Columns of Data

ID: Q113237

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you can use a macro to concatenate the data in two adjacent columns and display the result in the column to the right of the columns that contain your data. This article contains a sample Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro (Sub procedure) to accomplish this.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web: 

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Sub ConcatColumns()

      Do While ActiveCell <> ""  'Loops until the active cell is blank.

         'The "&" must have a space on both sides or it will be
         'treated as a variable type of long integer. Enter the following
         'two lines as a single line.

         ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).FormulaR1C1 = _
            ActiveCell.Offset(0, -1) & " " & ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0)

         ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
      Loop

   End Sub
NOTE: The statement ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).FormulaR1C1 can be replaced with the statement ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Formula. They can be used with equal success if you are using text and numbers only (not formulas). The R1C1 used at the end of the first statement refers to row one, column one and is the form used in examples in Help.

To Use the Macro in Microsoft Excel 97

1. Open the workbook which contains the data.

2. Press ALT+F11 to activate the Visual Basic Editor.

3. Click Module on the Insert menu to insert a module. Type the macro 

   above in the module's code window.
4. Click Close and Return to Microsoft Excel on the File menu.

5. Select the worksheet that contains the data that you want to 

   concatenate.
6. Click the top cell in the right-hand column of data that you want to 
   concatenate. For example, if cells A1:A100 and B1:B100 contain data,
   click cell B1.
7. Point to Macros on the Tools menu and click Macro. Select the 
   ConcatColumns macro, and click Run.

To Use the Macro in Microsoft Excel 5.0 or 7.0

1. Open the workbook which contains the data.

2. Point to Macro on the Insert menu and click Module to insert a 

   Visual Basic module in the workbook. Type the macro above on the
   module sheet.
3. Select the worksheet that contains the data that you want to 
   concatenate.
4. Click the top cell in the right-hand column of data that you want to 
   concatenate. For example, if cells A1:A100 and B1:B100 contain data,
   click cell B1.
5. On the Tools menu, click Macro, click the ConcatColumns macro, and 
   click Run.

REFERENCES

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications
Additional query words: 5.00 5.00c 7.00 8.00 97 XL97 XL7 XL5 operator ampersand 
Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmHowto KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999