Thanks for the answer, @JRS-SE. Yeah, I know that I can concatenate two fields together. My problem is that the data is defined in sql, so one cell called field_1 might have the content: "My name is $F{reference_to_another_cell_that's_written_in_plaintext}, and I am from Germany", so I can't concatenate the fields together, because it's hard coded in the actual data. We're migrating from another report generator, where it was possible to create references like <<this>> and the generator would read the tag and replace it with value from what the tag was referencing. I'm trying to find if it's possible to somehow keep that functionality in Jasper Reports. I know that I can create some convoluted find a replace string mechanics when defining the text fields, or I can create a scriplet that can handle that functionality. I wondered if that kind of functionality was already in place.