About

Data hygiene often requires flattening multidimensional structures into linear formats. This Column Merger addresses the specific engineering challenge of concatenating distinct data fields into a single string per record. This process is frequently required when preparing datasets for legacy system imports, constructing composite primary keys, or formatting mailing lists from raw spreadsheet dumps (Tab-Separated Values). Precision is non-negotiable here; a misplaced delimiter or a mishandled null value can corrupt an entire dataset.

Standard spreadsheet software relies on volatile formulas like CONCATENATE or TEXTJOIN, which are prone to reference errors when rows are sorted or filtered. This tool decouples the data from the logic. It operates on raw text, applying a uniform transformation rule across the entire set. It explicitly handles the Null Value Problem - deciding whether an empty cell should result in a double delimiter (preserving column alignment) or be skipped entirely (preserving readability). This distinction is critical for generating SQL INSERT statements or strict CSV files.

Formulas

The merging logic can be defined formally as a transformation of a row vector r into a scalar string S. Let the row contain n columns C = {c₁, c₂, ..., c_n}.

S = n∑i=1 (wrap(c_i) + d)

Where d is the delimiter and + represents string concatenation. The function wrap applies optional enclosing characters (quotes). If the "Skip Empty" condition is true, the term becomes:

{

NULL if c_i = ∅c_i + d otherwise

Reference Data

Scenario	Input Structure	Delimiter Strategy	Resulting Pattern
CSV Generation	Value1, Value2	Comma (,)	Value1,Value2
TSV (Excel)	DataA, DataB	Tab (\t)	DataA DataB
SQL Statements	ID, Name	SQL Syntax	(ID, 'Name')
Log Parsing	Time, Level, Msg	Pipe (\|)	Time\|Level\|Msg
Composite Key	Region, StoreNum	Hyphen (-)	Region-StoreNum
Full Name	First, Middle, Last	Space (Skip Empty)	First Last
JSON Array	Item1, Item2	Quote + Comma	"Item1", "Item2"
Path Building	Folder, File	Slash (/)	Folder/File

Frequently Asked Questions

The tool uses an auto-detection logic. It primarily looks for Tab characters (ASCII 9), which is the standard behavior when pasting from Excel or Google Sheets. If no tabs are found, it checks for Commas (CSV format). You can also force a specific input delimiter if your data is irregular.

This is a common collision issue. If you are merging with commas, and your text contains commas (e.g., "New York, NY"), the resulting string will be ambiguous to parsers. It is recommended to use the "Wrapper" feature to enclose fields in quotes, or choose a collision-resistant delimiter like a Pipe (|).

Yes, provided the lines are within a single cell and copied correctly. However, line breaks inside cells can break standard CSV readers. The tool processes the input line-by-line, so a hard return within a cell might be interpreted as a new row depending on how the source application exports it.

The tool runs client-side in your browser. It is optimized for datasets up to 10,000 rows. Larger datasets (100,000+) may cause temporary browser freezing during the render phase, though the logic itself is efficient.

You have three options. 1) Keep: Inserts the delimiter, resulting in consecutive delimiters (e.g., `a,,c`). 2) Skip: Ignores the empty value entirely (e.g., `a,c`). 3) Placeholder: Inserts a custom string like `NULL` or `N/A` (e.g., `a,N/A,c`).