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Trebor84's avatar
Trebor84
Helper II
3 years ago
Solved

Extract first occurring number set from text string

Hi, I'm trying to extract the first group of numbers from a text string in Power Query editor . Have seen a few tips on the this but problem is that the strings don't have any set pattern.

 

Please see examples below.

 

hello1234.  1234

hello 123    123

12 hello 21  12

 

Anu suggestions please? I have a way to do this in VBA but have been asked to recreate in Power Query now. 

Thanks 

Need Help
  • Vijay_A_Verma's avatar
    Vijay_A_Verma
    3 years ago

    You can use below in a custom column

     

     

    try Number.From(Splitter.SplitTextByCharacterTransition({"0".."9"}, (c) => not List.Contains({"0".."9"}, c))(Text.RemoveRange([Text],0,Text.PositionOfAny([Text],{"0".."9"}))){0}) otherwise null

     

    Edit - another construct can be

    Number.From(Text.Split(Text.Trim(Text.Combine(List.Transform(Text.ToList([Text]), (x)=> if not List.Contains({"0".."9"},x) then " " else x)))," "){0})

     

3 Replies

  • Vijay_A_Verma's avatar
    Vijay_A_Verma
    Most Valuable Professional
    3 years ago

    You can use below in a custom column

     

     

    try Number.From(Splitter.SplitTextByCharacterTransition({"0".."9"}, (c) => not List.Contains({"0".."9"}, c))(Text.RemoveRange([Text],0,Text.PositionOfAny([Text],{"0".."9"}))){0}) otherwise null

     

    Edit - another construct can be

    Number.From(Text.Split(Text.Trim(Text.Combine(List.Transform(Text.ToList([Text]), (x)=> if not List.Contains({"0".."9"},x) then " " else x)))," "){0})

     

    • Trebor84's avatar
      Trebor84
      Helper II
      3 years ago

      Thanks, all of these work great. I went with the top solution.

  • Syndicate_Admin's avatar
    Syndicate_Admin
    Administrator
    3 years ago

    Hi,

     

    Please try the below...

     

    let
    Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table1"]}[Content],
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Table", type text}}),
    NumbersOnly = Table.TransformColumns(#"Changed Type", {{"Table", each Text.Select( _ , {"0".."9", " "})}}),
    #"Trimmed Text" = Table.TransformColumns(NumbersOnly,{{"Table", Text.Trim, type text}}),
    #"Extracted Text Before Delimiter" = Table.TransformColumns(#"Trimmed Text", {{"Table", each Text.BeforeDelimiter(_, " "), type text}})
    in
    #"Extracted Text Before Delimiter"

     

    Basically extracting all numbers and spaces from your column (called mine Table), then only keeping numbers before the first space which I think will give you what you need.

     

    Thanks,