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Thulasiraman's avatar
Thulasiraman
Icon for Helper II rankHelper II
4 years ago
Solved

Issues in "Remove Duplicates"

Hi all,

I have 4 different master files which contains duplicate values (Names).

I appended all the 4 files in power query and applied trim function and removed duplicates.

But still when the file is loaded it shows duplicate values (names).  I found out that there

are some spaces in between the words in similar names.

Example:   

Nelson and company

Nelson  and company (contains 2 spaces in between Nelson and)

 

How to remove duplicates in such cases.  Pls suggest and help.

 

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    4 years ago

    Hi Thulasiraman ,

     

    Here's a function from this link.

    (text as text, optional char_to_trim as text) =>
    let
    char = if char_to_trim = null then " " else char_to_trim,
    split = Text.Split(text, char),
    removeblanks = List.Select(split, each _ <> ""),
    result=Text.Combine(removeblanks, char)
    in
    result

    Please go to the power query editor. Create a blank query, then enter the above code in the advanced editor.

     

    Then you can add a custom using this function.

    Now you can remove the column with the wrong spaces, keeping your new column.

     

     

    Best Regards,

    Stephen Tao

     

    If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

     

5 Replies

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable

    Hi Thulasiraman ,

     

    Here's a function from this link.

    (text as text, optional char_to_trim as text) =>
    let
    char = if char_to_trim = null then " " else char_to_trim,
    split = Text.Split(text, char),
    removeblanks = List.Select(split, each _ <> ""),
    result=Text.Combine(removeblanks, char)
    in
    result

    Please go to the power query editor. Create a blank query, then enter the above code in the advanced editor.

     

    Then you can add a custom using this function.

    Now you can remove the column with the wrong spaces, keeping your new column.

     

     

    Best Regards,

    Stephen Tao

     

    If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

     

    • Thulasiraman's avatar
      Thulasiraman
      Icon for Helper II rankHelper II

      Hi Anonymous 

       

      This code works and thanks for your support and detailed explanation.

      Ton of thanks.

       

      Thulasiraman

  • Hi Thulasiraman ,

     

    Select the appended [Name] column.

    Go to the Transform tab > Replace Values.

    Find "  " (double space).

    Replace with " " (single space).

    Then do your remove duplicates step.

     

    Pete

      • BA_Pete's avatar
        BA_Pete
        Icon for Super User rankSuper User

        Hi Thulasiraman ,

         

        Can you share your query here please?

        You can copy the whole thing in Advanced Editor and paste it into a code window here:

         

        Just remove any sensitive info from connection strings in the Source and navigation steps.

         

        Pete