Excel Split and Merge Columns: Names, Addresses and Codes
Split and combine text columns correctly, including awkward cases.
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Show me how to split and merge columns in Excel. Examples of the column to split or the columns to merge, ten rows including awkward ones: [EXAMPLES]. The result I want: [DESIRED_RESULT]. The separator characters used, if any: [SEPARATORS]. Compare the options and say when each is best: Text to Columns (quick and static), Flash Fill (pattern-based; check results), formulas such as LEFT, RIGHT, MID, FIND and SUBSTITUTE for older versions, newer functions such as TEXTSPLIT and TEXTJOIN where available [VERIFY availability in my version], and the ampersand or CONCAT for merging. For each example give the formula and the result, and explain what each part does. Test every formula on the awkward rows first: names with two surnames or a middle name, a comma inside a quoted value, missing separators, leading zeros in codes that must stay text, and merging with blanks without leaving double spaces. Output a table with Example, Method, Formula, Result and Problem to watch. Finish with checks: the count of non-blank results equals the count of rows, no #VALUE! errors, and a sample compared with the source. Keep the original columns until the result is checked.
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