Text Concatenation Operator & in DAX

September 8, 2026 22 visits

In this article, we will learn how to use the text concatenation operator (&) in DAX to combine values from different columns and create a single text expression. We will also understand how ADDCOLUMNS can be used to display the combined result.

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What Is the Text Concatenation Operator in DAX?

The & operator is used to join text values together. It can combine text literals, column values, and expressions into a single text result.

For example, if we have a customer key of 101 and a customer name of John, we can combine them into:

Example
101 - John

The & operator joins the values, while the text ” – “ adds a separator between them.

Key takeaway:
The & operator is used for text concatenation in DAX. It combines multiple values into a single text expression.

1. Retrieving the Customer Table

Query

DAX Query
EVALUATE
    Customer

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: EVALUATE
EVALUATE is used to return the result of a table expression.

Step 2: Customer
Customer is the table expression. Since we are specifying the table directly, DAX returns the table.

What will you get?

The result contains the columns and rows available in the Customer table.

CustomerKey Customer Country-Region
101 John Australia
102 Mary United States
103 David Canada


The example above is for illustration. Your actual result will contain the data available in your Customer table.

Key takeaway:
EVALUATE Customer returns the complete Customer table.

2. Creating Customer Information Using Text Concatenation

Query

DAX Query
EVALUATE
    ADDCOLUMNS(
        Customer,
        "Customer Info", Customer[CustomerKey] & " - " & Customer[Customer]
        )

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: EVALUATE
EVALUATE returns the result of the table expression.

Step 2: ADDCOLUMNS
ADDCOLUMNS creates a new column in the table expression. It keeps the existing columns and adds the new column we specify.

Step 3: Customer
This is the source table from which we want to retrieve the customer information.

Step 4: “Customer Info”
This is the name of the new column that will be created in the result.

Step 5: Customer[CustomerKey]
This retrieves the customer key value from the current row.

Step 6: & ” – “
The & operator joins the customer key with the text separator ” – “.

Step 7: & Customer[Customer]
The second & operator joins the separator with the customer name.

The complete expression:

Text Concatenation Expression
Customer[CustomerKey] & " - " & Customer[Customer]

combines the customer key, separator, and customer name into one text value.

Understanding the Expression

Expression Part Purpose Example Result
Customer[CustomerKey] Retrieves the customer key 101
” – “ Adds a separator –
Customer[Customer] Retrieves the customer name John
& Combines the values 101 – John

What will you get?

The result contains all the existing columns from the Customer table, along with the newly created Customer Info column.

CustomerKey Customer Country-Region Customer Info
101 John Australia 101 – John
102 Mary United States 102 – Mary
103 David Canada 103 – David


The example above is for illustration. Your actual result will contain the data available in your Customer table.

Key takeaway:
ADDCOLUMNS creates a new column, and the & operator combines the values into a single text expression.

3. How the Concatenation Works Row by Row

The expression is evaluated for each row of the Customer table.

CustomerKey Customer First Value Separator Second Value Final Result
101 John 101 – John 101 – John
102 Mary 102 – Mary 102 – Mary
103 David 103 – David 103 – David

For example, when the current row contains 101 and John, the expression produces:

Example Calculation
101 & " - " & "John"

Result: 101 - John

Key takeaway:
The same expression is evaluated for every row, producing a different concatenated result based on the values in that row.

Important Notes

1. The & operator combines values

The & operator joins text values and expressions into a single text result.

2. Text literals must be enclosed in double quotes

In the query, ” – “ is a text literal. Double quotes are used to define text values.

3. ADDCOLUMNS creates a new column

The Customer Info column is added to the result of the Customer table expression.

4. The original table is not modified

ADDCOLUMNS returns a new table expression for the query result. It does not modify the original Customer table.

5. The separator is optional

You can concatenate values without a separator, or use a different separator depending on the required output.

Without a Separator
Customer[CustomerKey] & Customer[Customer]

With a Different Separator
Customer[CustomerKey] & " | " & Customer[Customer]

Practice Exercise

📝 Try This Query

Write a DAX query to create a new column named Customer Location by combining the Customer and Country-Region columns.

Use the following format:

Expected Output Format
John - Australia

Expected Query

DAX Query
EVALUATE
    ADDCOLUMNS(
        Customer,
        "Customer Location", Customer[Customer] & " - " & Customer[Country-Region]
        )

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to use the text concatenation operator (&) in DAX.

  • The & operator combines text values and expressions.
  • ADDCOLUMNS creates a new column in the table expression.
  • Text literals such as ” – “ can be used as separators.
  • The concatenation expression is evaluated for each row.
  • We can create useful text columns such as Customer Info and Customer Location.

Text concatenation is useful when you want to combine multiple pieces of information into a single readable value, such as customer identifiers, product descriptions, or location details.

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