Concatenate Column in OpenRefine 3.0 and 3.3

We all know the pain of merging different columns in OpenRefine when you have null values. Before version 3.0, it required writing a complex GREL expression or managing multiple filters to ensure we are not losing any data. 

Those shortcomings have been addressed in the latest version! 

Starting OpenRefine 3.0, we have the coalesce() function:  which natively handles the null correctly. 

But evermore importantly, OpenRefine 3.3 introduced a user interface that offers tons of flexibility, including defining how you want to concatenate one or multiple columns together. 

I recorded a quick video demonstration: 

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Update phone number format

This post is a quick adaptation to phone number based on the method presented in the add a space to postal code (splitByLength and Merge function).

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Merge records spread on multiple rows

This article will go through steps to gather on the content of the same row spread on two rows. This method can be extended when a single record is hosted on multiple rows.

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merge 2 columns that have both blank cells

New - March 2020 Update:

• OpenRefine 3.0, we have the coalesce() function:  which natively handles the null correctly. 

• OpenRefine 3.3 introduced a user interface that offers tons of flexibility. See tutorial

The basic function to merge or concatenate data from two different column is the following:

cells["col1"].value + " " + cells["col2"].value

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Add a space to postal code (splitByLength and Merge function)

This short tips explains how to convert postal code store on 6 characters to 7 by adding a space after 3 digits. We will use splitByLength (see related video) and merge multiple column into one functions.

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How to merge records from different columns

New - March 2020 Update:

• OpenRefine 3.0, we have the coalesce() function:  which natively handles the null correctly. 

• OpenRefine 3.3 introduced a user interface that offers tons of flexibility. See tutorial

This tutorial has been merge with How to merge cells that have blank cells.

You can also refer to the following video tutorials:

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