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dlopez's avatar
dlopez
Advocate II
6 years ago
Solved

Replace entire column text value

Hi,

I want to replace values in a text column but matching only entire values.

That is, I want to match "CAPITAL FED" but not "CAPITAL FEDERAL" (it's Spanish 😉)

I tried to use Transform > Replace values in Power BI Desktop and enabled option "Match entire cell contents" but noticed that this causes Replacer.ReplaceText to change to Replacer.ReplaceValue in Power Query code, what doesn't match anything.

I think Replacer.ReplaceValue is for numeric values but no sure since its doc (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerquery-m/replacer-functions) is very poor

Bellow is the full code:

 

= Table.ReplaceValue(#"Otras columnas quitadas","CAPITAL FED","CAPITAL FEDERAL",Replacer.ReplaceValue,{"localidad"})

My question is why is the replacer changed and what is the solution to achieve the replacement (e. g. is there any way to use regular expresions?)

Thany you

  • dlopez ,

     

    Can you give some example of it? I tried here the option to Match entire cell contents, it worked.

    Have you tried clean/trim this column before the replace ?

     

5 Replies

  • camargos88's avatar
    camargos88
    Community Champion

    dlopez ,

     

    Can you give some example of it? I tried here the option to Match entire cell contents, it worked.

    Have you tried clean/trim this column before the replace ?

     

  • mahoneypat's avatar
    mahoneypat
    Microsoft Employee

    One way would be to add a Suffix like "#" to your column on the transform tab, then replace Capital Fed#.  When you are done you can simply replace # with null (leave the replace field empty).

     

    If this solution works for you, please mark it as the solution.  Kudos are appreciated too.  Please let me know if not.
    Regards,
    Pat

  • dax's avatar
    dax
    Community Support

    Hi dlopez , 

    Based on this document, I think when columns have numeric or other types, it will use replacer.replacevalue. In addition, which part don't work? If possible, could you please inform me more detailed information(such as your expected output and your sample data (by OneDrive for Business))? Then I will help you more correctly.

    Please do mask sensitive data before uploading.

    Thanks for your understanding and support.
    Best Regards,
    Zoe Zhi

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

  • Hi,

     

    I wrote some about the different between the two replacer functions. Replacer.ReplaceText also replaces substrings, whereas Replacer.ReplaceValue only matches the entire cell contents. If you like, I posted some screenshots in this article about the difference:

     

    https://gorilla.bi/power-query/replace-values/#replacer-functions

     

    Hope that helps!

     

    Rick

     

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