merging text into blank cells

[ttowncorp]

I know there has to be a easier way to move text from one cell to the next without having to select one cell at a time to copy and paste. I have information I say in B column from cell 1-2000. and information in A column from 1-2000. I will like to combined the columns as one list but I keep getting a error trying to multiple copy cells because some have blanks in them, and they need to stay on that cell row because I have other data attached to it. how do I combined both into one column without having to sort and filter first? I need a1 to stay on a1, and if b1 is blank but a1 all I should see is just a1. if they both have info then I need both of them in one cell. I hope that makes since. I can't figure out how to combine them without having to do one at a time, a few thousand will manually will not do.
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]a[/TD]
[TD]b[/TD]
[TD]total[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]up[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD]up[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]down[/TD]
[TD]up[/TD]
[TD]down up[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD]down[/TD]
[TD]down[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]down[/TD]
[TD]down[/TD]
[TD]down down[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]up[/TD]
[TD]up[/TD]
[TD]up up[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]down[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD]down[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]up[/TD]
[TD]blank[/TD]
[TD]up[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

 

[Ken Cowen]

I believe you have some very misleading words in your description. It appears that you simply want a formula in column C that concatenates the data in column A and B. It doesn't appear that you want to "merge" anything, which is good, because merging is a terrible thing to do to data. It also doesn't appear that you want to "move" anything since the stuff in A and B seems to remain in A and B after you have what you want.

If you put the formula

=a1&" " &b1

in C1 and copy it down, you may get what you want. If a leading space in rows with blanks in A but non-blanks in B are problematic, you could go with

=A17&IF(B17<>""," "&B17,"")

I hope this helps.

Ken

 

[Fluff]

Put his in C1 & copy down
=TRIM(A1&" "&B1)

 

[ttowncorp]

that will work thank you

 

[Fluff]

Glad we could help & thanks for the feedback

 

[ttowncorp]

if I want to do that with 4 columns like a,b,c, and d. would the code be the same?

 

[Fluff]

Give it a go & see what happens.
If you get any problems, report back with the new formula

 

[ttowncorp]

I just tried and it didn't work lol. not sure how that coding of your functions.

 

[Fluff]

Try
=TRIM(A1&" "&B1&" "&C1&" "&D1)

 

[ttowncorp]

I c now. I was not adding a space between the "". thank you. I didn't know how sensitive coding was in this.