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

Join the Fabric FabCon Global Hackathon—running virtually through Nov 3. Open to all skill levels. $10,000 in prizes! Register now.

Reply
DomDom78
Regular Visitor

Max Date across columns but return the column name not the Date

Hello, 

 

As the title suggests, in Power Query, is there a way to identify the max date across multiple coloums but return the column name the max date is within, instead of the date? e.g 

 

DomDom78_0-1675877968166.png

 

I'm happy finding the max date using List.Max, but i don't know how to return the colmun name.

 

If there are mutiple columns with the same date could column names be returned seperated by a comma?

 

Thanks in advance

 

DomDom

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
AlexisOlson
Super User
Super User

Find the positions of the maximal value and then take those positions from the list of column names.

 

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WMlTSUTICYmMgNgFiUyA2UIrVwZQxBvNBMqZIIjA9JkqxsQA=", 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]), 
  #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(
    Source, 
    "Max", 
    each 
      let
        row_values    = Record.ToList(_), 
        column_names  = Record.FieldNames(_), 
        max_value     = List.Max(row_values), 
        max_positions = List.PositionOf(row_values, max_value, 6), 
        max_names     = List.Transform(max_positions, each column_names{_}), 
        combine_names = Text.Combine(max_names, ", ")
      in
        combine_names, 
    type text
  )
in
  #"Added Custom"

 

If you don't like all the intermediate variables, you can put this in the custom column box:

Text.Combine(
    List.Transform(
        List.PositionOf(
            Record.ToList(_),
            List.Max(Record.ToList(_)),
            Record.FieldCount(_)
        ), 
        (pos) => Record.FieldNames(_){pos}
    ),
    ", "
)

AlexisOlson_0-1675881845682.png

 

View solution in original post

5 REPLIES 5
DomDom78
Regular Visitor

Thankyou AlexisOlson, it works perfectly. 

AlexisOlson
Super User
Super User

Find the positions of the maximal value and then take those positions from the list of column names.

 

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WMlTSUTICYmMgNgFiUyA2UIrVwZQxBvNBMqZIIjA9JkqxsQA=", 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]), 
  #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(
    Source, 
    "Max", 
    each 
      let
        row_values    = Record.ToList(_), 
        column_names  = Record.FieldNames(_), 
        max_value     = List.Max(row_values), 
        max_positions = List.PositionOf(row_values, max_value, 6), 
        max_names     = List.Transform(max_positions, each column_names{_}), 
        combine_names = Text.Combine(max_names, ", ")
      in
        combine_names, 
    type text
  )
in
  #"Added Custom"

 

If you don't like all the intermediate variables, you can put this in the custom column box:

Text.Combine(
    List.Transform(
        List.PositionOf(
            Record.ToList(_),
            List.Max(Record.ToList(_)),
            Record.FieldCount(_)
        ), 
        (pos) => Record.FieldNames(_){pos}
    ),
    ", "
)

AlexisOlson_0-1675881845682.png

 

Thank you for your solution! May I ask how to limit the selection to about 5 (out of 20) columns in my table only please? And if you know of a similar solution but with DAX? 

Could you please explain how this works? I mean where are the column names specified in this code?

Each row is a record and Record.FieldNames is the list of column names for that row. The code finds the positions of the maximal values in the list of values and then applies those positions to the list of column names.

Helpful resources

Announcements
September Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - September 2025

Check out the September 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.

FabCon Atlanta 2026 carousel

FabCon Atlanta 2026

Join us at FabCon Atlanta, March 16-20, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.

Top Solution Authors