Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Join the FabCon + SQLCon recap series. Up next: Power BI, Real-Time Intelligence, IQ and AI, and Data Factory take center stage. All sessions are available on-demand after the live show. Register now

Reply
joshua1990
Post Prodigy
Post Prodigy

Count Distinct Values in each Column

Hi all!

I have a table with a lot of columns.

Some of these columns are blank and sometimes there is even just 1 value.

Now, how is it possible in PQ to count for each column the number of distinct values?

I know, we can do it via "Group By", but here I would need to select each individual column. There are like 150 columns.

Any workaround here?

 

 

2 REPLIES 2
Vijay_A_Verma
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

See a sample code here

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WSlTSUTIEYmMgNlOK1UEVMQCLJAFZRlARE7iIMRQbKcXGAgA=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t, Column2 = _t, Column3 = _t, Column4 = _t]),
    Custom1 = Table.FromColumns({Table.ColumnNames(Source)} & {List.Transform(Table.ToColumns(Source), (x)=>List.Count(List.Distinct(List.RemoveNulls(x))))}, {"Column Names", "Distinct Count"})
in
    Custom1

 

@Vijay_A_Verma This is awesome! Thanks a lot. Is it possible to convert this into a function? So that I can add this step much more esier into every query?

Helpful resources

Announcements
April Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - April 2026

Check out the April 2026 Power BI update to learn about new features.

New to Fabric survey Carousel

New to Fabric Survey

If you have recently started exploring Fabric, we'd love to hear how it's going. Your feedback can help with product improvements.

Power BI DataViz World Championships carousel

Power BI DataViz World Championships - June 2026

A new Power BI DataViz World Championship is coming this June! Don't miss out on submitting your entry.

FabCon and SQLCon Highlights Carousel

FabCon &SQLCon Highlights

Experience the highlights from FabCon & SQLCon, available live and on-demand starting April 14th.