Merge a pair of columns where in each row one is blank, without a formula

A Q on Stack Overflow asks how to merge two columns where each row has only one populated cell. The example was from (on the left) to (on the right):

a|b                     a  
0|                      0  
|1                      1  
|5                      5  
9|                      9  

Although the body included:

How can I quickly merge columns a and b in this way in libreoffice calc?

The tag set included [excel] and the only A at present is stated to be for Excel (though it works in LibreOffice Calc also). That A suggests:

=A1 & B1

in a new column and copied down.

In Excel, is there a way to avoid the need (i) for use of a third column, (ii) to copy down and (iii) a formula?

posted about 4 years ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

pnuts‭

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