Remove symbol at the beginning of a column if it exists

[Chris2016]

Hello,

I need some help removing a symbol ("-") if it exists in the beginning of a column value, but keep it if it exists elswhere in the value (not at the beginning).

E.g.:

Column	Result Column
-alex	alex
john	john
a-albert	a-albert
-dan	dan
b-judy	b-judy

Any thoughts? 

Thanks!

[Uspace87 · Accepted solution]

@Chris2016 

I have used a series of steps in "Power query".

please find below the query code with all the steps:

let
Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45W0s1LzE1VitWJVipJLS7RLUBiFujqKsXGAgA=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Test = _t]),
#"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Test", type text}}),
#"Inserted First Characters" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "First Characters", each Text.Start([Test], 1), type text),
#"Extracted Text Range" = Table.TransformColumns(#"Inserted First Characters", {{"Test", each Text.Middle(_, 1, 10000000), type text}}),
#"Replaced Value" = Table.ReplaceValue(#"Extracted Text Range","-","",Replacer.ReplaceText,{"First Characters"}),
#"Merged Columns" = Table.CombineColumns(#"Replaced Value",{"First Characters", "Test"},Combiner.CombineTextByDelimiter("", QuoteStyle.None),"Merged")
in
#"Merged Columns"

[Chris2016 · Accepted solution]

I also found a way to do it in DAX:

CleanUp = IF(LEFT([Column], 1)="-", MID([Column], 2,LEN([Column])),[Column])

[Uspace87 · Accepted solution]

@Chris2016 

I have used a series of steps in "Power query".

please find below the query code with all the steps:

let
Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45W0s1LzE1VitWJVipJLS7RLUBiFujqKsXGAgA=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Test = _t]),
#"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Test", type text}}),
#"Inserted First Characters" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "First Characters", each Text.Start([Test], 1), type text),
#"Extracted Text Range" = Table.TransformColumns(#"Inserted First Characters", {{"Test", each Text.Middle(_, 1, 10000000), type text}}),
#"Replaced Value" = Table.ReplaceValue(#"Extracted Text Range","-","",Replacer.ReplaceText,{"First Characters"}),
#"Merged Columns" = Table.CombineColumns(#"Replaced Value",{"First Characters", "Test"},Combiner.CombineTextByDelimiter("", QuoteStyle.None),"Merged")
in
#"Merged Columns"

[Chris2016]

Hi, @Uspace87,

Thanks a lot, this helps. Can you let me know how you added the "Inserted First Characters" step?

Best regards!

[Uspace87]

@Chris2016 

You need yo use "Add column" and then "Extract first Char"

[Chris2016]

Thank you!