# Concatenation operation

Learn how how to join strings.

The concatenation operation combines two strings into a single string. This is useful when you need to format strings, such as when you want to create a full name by combining a first and last name.

To concatenate two strings, place the `&` operator between them:

```cql
/*<prefix>*/ & /*<suffix>*/
```

Here is a practical example:

```cql
"CQL " & "💚" // CQL 💚
```

You can also combine more than two strings by using multiple `&` operators:

```cql
"C" & "Q" & "L" // CQL
```

When you concatenate a string with a non-string value, the non-string value is converted to a string before concatenation:

```cql
"1 + 1 = " & 2 // 1 + 1 = 2
```

For more information about how conversion to string works, see [string conversion](/reference/cql/conversions#string).