Remove text from column but leave numbers

[JNelson]

Hi community!

I have a data set where I have a column [Litres] which should be a numerical value, however the people inputting the data sometimes put text. I know I could use a data validation on the original data input sheet, but there are too many to police (and they just copy and paste over the data validation anyway!).

My question is, can I, in the existing [Litres] column replace any text with null and leave the correct values as is (ie numercial values).

OR in a new custom column, can I do an if function that if[Litres] is text then null else [Litres] but I just don't know the correct code for that.

Thanks in advance!

[edhans · Accepted solution]

Easiest thing is a new column as you suggest, but use try/otherwise and not if/then/else.

The formula is:

try Number.From([Column1]) otherwise null)

If the conversion to number returns an error, try/otherwise will return null. You can change that to 0 or whatever in the formula.

[JNelson]

Thank you so much! Works perfectly

[collinsg]

Good day JNelson,

A slight tweak on edhans solution is to transform the column using edhans formula. This avoids creating a new column and having to delete the old column.

= Table.TransformColumns( #"Previous Step", {{"Column1", each try Number.From(_) otherwise null }} )

 Hope this helps.

[JNelson]

Thank you! That also works 🙂