# CONCAT

### Description

CONCAT combines specified values into one new value, appending them after each other.

If you are combining multiple components with the same characters, consider using [`JOIN`](https://docs.atfinity.io/rule-language/operators/string-operators/join).

If you are working on potentially unknown values, consider using [`CONCAT_OF_ANY`](https://docs.atfinity.io/rule-language/operators/unknown-operators/concat_of_any).

### Example

```
p is Person
CONCAT(p.first_name, " ", p.last_name)
```

It is common practice to have two separate[ information fields](https://docs.atfinity.io/guides/glossary/information) for a name - one for the first and one for the last name. If, once these data are collected, you want to treat the full name as one combined piece of information, use `CONCAT` as in the example above. This would return a full name, e.g. "Jamie Fox".

The `" "`, with a space in between the quotation marks, adds a space between the first name and last name. If you want to include a middle name in the full name, the expression would look like this:

```
p is Person
CONCAT(p.first_name, " ", p.middle_name, " ", p.last_name)
```

This example would return a name like "Samuel Leroy Jackson".

{% hint style="info" %}
If you prefer, `CONCAT` is also available by using the `+` operator between the elements, so the last example can also be written as:

```
p is Person
p.first_name + " " + p.middle_name + " " + p.last_name
```

{% endhint %}