# How to concatenate strings in AppleScript

> Learn how to concatenate strings in AppleScript using the & operator instead of the + you might expect from JavaScript, Swift, or Python.

Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2023-01-31 | Topics: [Mac](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/mac/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/how-to-concatenate-strings-in-applescript/

I’m used to using the `+` operator to concatenate strings in [JavaScript](https://flaviocopes.com/javascript/), Swift, [Python](https://flaviocopes.com/python-introduction/) and other languages.

So I tried that in AppleScript but it didn’t work.

In AppleScript you use the `&` operator:

```javascript
set example to "hello"
"testing " & example
```

![macOS Script Editor app showing AppleScript code with string concatenation using the ampersand operator](https://flaviocopes.com/images/how-to-concatenate-strings-in-applescript/1.webp)

☝️ is the macOS built-in Script Editor app, the best way I found to tinker with AppleScript.