Count columns with data only, ignoring blanks

[hdhillon]

All,

I want to add an extra column at the end of my table to count columns with data in them (text or numbers)  Ignoring the blanks

Also can I tell it to count only columns 2 to 8 say?

Thanks in advance ! 🙂

[hdhillon]

All,  is there not a simple formula, alot like COUNTA in excel that will count cells with data in them?  Obviously I want to do it for every row here

[edhans]

No @hdhillon - Power Query is not like Excel. There are no ranges to look at columns 2-8 in a simple way. Power Query is like a database table. The solution @Jimmy801 works. There may be other ways - I am sure there are because if you can do it one way, you can probably do it 3-4 different ways. But there is no COUNTA() function or similar function.

[Jimmy801 · Accepted solution]

Hello @hdhillon 

check this approach. It converts the row to a table and then uses List-functions to filter the value-column.

This is the formula of the new column

List.Count(List.Select(Record.ToTable(_)[Value], (item)=> item <>"" and item <>null))

here the complete example

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WclTSUSpPLQKSxSlpQBKEYnWileACcGEQAySTiFAIEkTSgEAwExKRlCrFxgIA", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t, Column2 = _t, Column3 = _t, Column4 = _t, Column5 = _t]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Column1", type text}, {"Column2", type text}, {"Column3", type text}, {"Column4", type text}, {"Column5", type text}}),
    CountNonEmptyColumns = Table.AddColumn
    (
        #"Changed Type",
        "Count of non empty columns",
        each List.Count(List.Select(Record.ToTable(_)[Value], (item)=> item <>"" and item <>null))
    )
in
    CountNonEmptyColumns

uses this formula to specify column number in the variable "ColNumbers "

let 
            ColNumbers = {0,2,3},
            GetColNames = List.Accumulate(ColNumbers, {}, (o,c)=> o & {Record.ToTable(_)[Name]{c}}),
            ColCount = List.Count(List.Select(Table.SelectRows(Record.ToTable(_), (tbl)=> List.Contains(GetColNames, tbl[Name]))[Value], (item)=> item <>"" and item <>null))
        in 
            ColCount

Here the complete example

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WclTSUSpPLQKSxSlpQBKEYnWileACcGEQAySTiFAIEkTSgEAwExKRlCrFxgIA", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t, Column2 = _t, Column3 = _t, Column4 = _t, Column5 = _t]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Column1", type text}, {"Column2", type text}, {"Column3", type text}, {"Column4", type text}, {"Column5", type text}}),
    CountNonEmptyColumns = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "Count of non empty columns", each let 
            ColNumbers = {0,2,3},
            GetColNames = List.Accumulate(ColNumbers, {}, (o,c)=> o & {Record.ToTable(_)[Name]{c}}),
            ColCount = List.Count(List.Select(Table.SelectRows(Record.ToTable(_), (tbl)=> List.Contains(GetColNames, tbl[Name]))[Value], (item)=> item <>"" and item <>null))
        in 
            ColCount)
in
    CountNonEmptyColumns

Copy paste this code to the advanced editor in a new blank query to see how the solution works.
If this post helps or solves your problem, please mark it as solution (to help other users find useful content and to acknowledge the work of users that helped you)
Kudoes are nice too

Have fun

Jimmy

[CNENFRNL]

Hi, @hdhillon , you might want to try this solution

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WMlLSUTIBYgsgdoSyTZVidaLBIlAJIDIDUTBhf59EIGkIkQHpcAJLmYP16ig5Q0VBeoyVYmMB", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t, Column2 = _t, Column3 = _t, Column4 = _t, Column5 = _t, Column6 = _t]),
    #"Replaced Value" = Table.ReplaceValue(Source,"",null,Replacer.ReplaceValue, Table.ColumnNames(Source)),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Replaced Value", "CountNonBlank", each List.NonNullCount(Record.ToList(_)))
in
    #"Added Custom"