Can I merge a multi-dimensional array into a single dimensional array in Google Sheets?

Question

I'm looking to combine several columns into one, I do not care about order.

For example, I have a column with a collection of tags:

|   || A                      |
| = || ====================== |
| 1 || Tags List              |
| 2 || Loon, Diver, Gaviform  |
| 3 || Shoveler, Anseriformes |
| 4 || Roc                    | 

If I use the formula =ARRAYFORMULA(SPLIT(A2:A)) in B2, I would get the following output:

|   || B        | C            | D         |
| = || ======== | ============ | ========= |
| 1 ||          |              |           |
| 2 || Loon     | Diver        | Gaviform  |
| 3 || Shoveler | Anseriformes |           |
| 4 || Roc      |              |           |

Instead, I'd like to collect that into a single column like:

|   || B            |    |   || B            |
| = || ============ |    | = || ============ |
| 1 ||              |    | 1 ||              |
| 2 || Loon         |    | 2 || Loon         |
| 3 || Diver        | OR | 3 || Shoveler     |
| 4 || Gaviform     |    | 4 || Roc          |
| 5 || Shoveler     |    | 5 || Diver        |
| 6 || Anseriformes |    | 6 || Anseriformes |
| 7 || Roc          |    | 7 || Gaviform     |

Is there a way to do this with a single formula such that I could do =OTHER_FORMULA_OR_FORMULAS(ARRAYFORMULA(SPLIT(A2:A))), given that the tag list might be any length?

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I know it's possible to use an array constructor, e.g. {A2:A;B2:B,C2:C} to combine the columns, but given that I might have an untold number of tabs and a number of similar columns to do this on, I'm looking for a one size fits all formula.

Answer 1

The Google Sheets TOCOL function does exactly the thing I asked originally. The other answers will get you the same result, but in a different way.

=TOCOL(ARRAYFORMULA(SPLIT(A2:A4,", ")),TRUE)

Answer 2

use:

=TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(TEXTJOIN(", ", 1, A2:A), ", "))

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or:

=ARRAYFORMULA(TRIM(TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(TEXTJOIN(",", 1, A2:A), ","))))

Answer 3

Join the strings cells with , then split:

=transpose(split(join(", ",A2:A),", "))