Forum Discussion
Remove columns containing a certain value
I have various columns that have a date listed in one row, therefore they contain a "/". None of the other columns I need contain a backslash in any of the rows. I would like to delete the columns containing this backslash.
I saw a thread that propose the following formula but am having difficulty applying it to my query. It tells me "PreviousStepName not recognized". I replaced it with the name of the previous step in my query, but that didn't work. Am I supposed to be filling in values for "ColumnNames" and other parts of this formula as well? Or is this formula not accurate for what I am trying to achieve?
= let columnsToRemove = List.Select(Table.ColumnNames(PreviousStepName), each Text.StartsWith(_, "Var") or Text.Contains(_, "_prep")) in Table.RemoveColumns(PreviousStepName, columnsToRemove)
I also found a thread that suggested transposing my data and then deleting rows, but this was not a good solution for my data.
Thank you
Hi tc5pt,
I've tried to integrate it into the code you mentioned earlier. Just replace all occurrences of "Source" with #"Promoted Headers" and it should work in your Excel file.
let Source = Excel.Workbook(File.Contents("C: Source"), null, true), #"1_Sheet" = Source{[Item="1",Kind="Sheet"]}[Data], #"Promoted Headers" = Table.PromoteHeaders(#"1_Sheet", [PromoteAllScalars=true]), // get columns which contains any slash among values ColumnsToRemove = List.Select( // get a list of all columns Table.ColumnNames(#"Promoted Headers"), (columnName) => let // get all values of a columns ColumnValues = Table.Column(#"Promoted Headers", columnName), // go through values and stop when you find the first occurence of a text containing a slash // if there is a value with a slash, return true else false ContainsSlash = List.AnyTrue(List.Transform(ColumnValues, each Text.Contains(_, "/"))) in ContainsSlash ), // remove columns Result = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Promoted Headers", ColumnsToRemove) in Result
11 Replies
Hi tc5pt,
I'm just guessing: You have to replace all occurancies of PreviousStepName. In your case you have to replace it twice.
let PreviousStepName = <THE NAME OF PREVIOUS STEP>, columnsToRemove = List.Select(Table.ColumnNames(PreviousStepName), each Text.StartsWith(_, "Var") or Text.Contains(_, "_prep")) in Table.RemoveColumns(PreviousStepName, columnsToRemove)But I suppose there can also be another problem because your code starts with "=". Please post the whole query to see that you use it correctly.
