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

Level up your Power BI skills this month - build one visual each week and tell better stories with data! Get started

Reply
AndreasFrank
New Member

Find a column name

Dear PowerBI Community!

 

I have a table like this:

 

LineitemOption 1Option 2Option 3Selected ValueFrom Option
a1411911Option 2
b31477Option 3
c75633Option 3
d3412734Option 1


For each lineitem I select a value from one of the 3 available options. So for lineitem "a" I selected value 11 which belongs to Option 2.

 

Now I'd like to add a column "From Option" that shows the name of the column from which the value was selected. Is there any formular that can search through the columns of a row to find a value and then return the name of the respective column?

 

Thank you!
Andreas

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi @AndreasFrank 

 

Not sure if I made it too complicated

Vera_33_0-1637281045542.png

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WSlTSUTI0ARGGQMISwojViVZKAjKNYZLmYAwSTobyTM2g8sZg4RQQC2yMEVQBkBcbCwA=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Lineitem = _t, #"Option 1" = _t, #"Option 2" = _t, #"Option 3" = _t, #"Selected Value" = _t]),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "OptionFrom",  (x)=>
[a= Table.SelectRows(Source,each [Lineitem]=x[Lineitem]),
colName = List.Select( Table.ColumnNames(a), each Text.Contains(_,"Option")),
b=Table.Transpose( Table.DemoteHeaders( Table.SelectColumns(a, colName))),
c=Table.SelectRows(b,each [Column2]=x[Selected Value])[Column1]{0}?][c])
in
    #"Added Custom"

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3
Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi @AndreasFrank 

 

Not sure if I made it too complicated

Vera_33_0-1637281045542.png

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WSlTSUTI0ARGGQMISwojViVZKAjKNYZLmYAwSTobyTM2g8sZg4RQQC2yMEVQBkBcbCwA=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Lineitem = _t, #"Option 1" = _t, #"Option 2" = _t, #"Option 3" = _t, #"Selected Value" = _t]),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "OptionFrom",  (x)=>
[a= Table.SelectRows(Source,each [Lineitem]=x[Lineitem]),
colName = List.Select( Table.ColumnNames(a), each Text.Contains(_,"Option")),
b=Table.Transpose( Table.DemoteHeaders( Table.SelectColumns(a, colName))),
c=Table.SelectRows(b,each [Column2]=x[Selected Value])[Column1]{0}?][c])
in
    #"Added Custom"

Hi Vera!

 

It works, but I have no clue how 🙂

 

Thank you for the quick support!!

 

Best regards!
Andreas

Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi @AndreasFrank 

 

Here is another way, use a custom function called fnSwitch

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WSlTSUTI0ARGGQMISwojViVZKAjKNYZLmYAwSTobyTM2g8sZg4RQQC2yMEVQBkBcbCwA=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Lineitem = _t, #"Option 1" = _t, #"Option 2" = _t, #"Option 3" = _t, #"Selected Value" = _t]),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "OptionFrom",  (x)=>
[a= Table.SelectRows(Source,each [Lineitem]=x[Lineitem]),
b=List.Transform( Table.ToRecords(a),Record.ToTable){0},
fnSwitch = (input as text) => [
        values =List.Zip ({
        b[Name],b[Value]
        }),
        Result = List.First(List.Select(values, each _{1}=input)){0}][Result],
c= fnSwitch(x[Selected Value])][c])
in
    #"Added Custom"

 

Read his blog to understand M better

Power Query M Primer (part 1): Introduction, Simple Expressions & let | Ben Gribaudo

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.

Fabric SQL PBI Data Days

Data Days 2026 coming soon!

Sign up to receive a private message when registration opens and key events begin.

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.

Top Kudoed Authors