Forum Discussion

michellepace's avatar
michellepace
Resolver III
5 years ago
Solved

type Text: Clean in-between white space

Hi. Is there a way to parse text to single white spaces only?

 

That is:

"mary    white     helloooo"

 

Becomes:

"mary white helloooo"

Need Help
  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    5 years ago

    try this

     

     

    let
    Source = Excel.Workbook(File.Contents("C:yourpath\Q.14 Data.xlsx"), null, true),
    Table1_Table = Source{[Item="Table1",Kind="Table"]}[Data],
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Table1_Table,{{"Single space everything, and trim both ends (don’t make a new column)", type text}}),
    tc=Table.TransformColumns( #"Changed Type", {"Single space everything, and trim both ends (don’t make a new column)", each Text.Combine(List.Select(Text.Split(_," "), each _<>""), " ")})
in
    tc

     

     

     

10 Replies

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable
    5 years ago

     

     

    Text.Combine(List.Select(Text.Split("mary    white     helloooo"," "), each _<>""), " ")

     

     

     

    I do not intend to boast this solution, but just as a side observation, I point out that this cuts away the blanks that precede the first word or follow the last word.
    This of course can be an advantage or a disadvantage, it depends on what one is looking for.

     

     

     

  • AlB's avatar
    AlB
    Community Champion
    5 years ago

    Hi michellepace 

    Paste this M code in a blank query to see the steps. The recursive function is the relevant one.

    let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45Wyk0sqlQAgvKMzJJUEEMhIzUnJx8IlGJjAQ==", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Column1", type text}}),
    fx = (input as text) => let reduce = Text.Replace(input,"  "," "), res=if Text.Length(reduce)=Text.Length(input) then input else @fx(reduce) in res,  
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "Custom", each fx([Column1]))
in
    #"Added Custom"

     

    Please mark the question solved when done and consider giving kudos if posts are helpful.

    Contact me privately for support with any larger-scale BI needs, tutoring, etc.

    Cheers 

  • ziying35's avatar
    ziying35
    Impactful Individual
    5 years ago

    Hi, michellepace 

    Try this:

    = let str="mary    white     helloooo" in Text.Combine(Splitter.SplitTextByWhitespace()(str), " ")

    If my code solves your problem, mark it as a solution 

    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      Not applicable
      5 years ago

      = Splitter.SplitTextByWhitespace()(" mary white helloooo ")

       

      this function, that of which I now know the existence thanks to ziying35 , for a string with leading or trailing whites spaces, gives this result

       

       

      where the first and last element are the empty string "".

       

      Why?

       

      what kind of internal logic is applied in your opinion?

       

       

      • ziying35's avatar
        ziying35
        Impactful Individual
        5 years ago

        Anonymous 

        The function does have the problems you describe, and I'm not sure about its internal logic. The scenarios I've used it in before have been without leading and trailing spaces

         

        = let str=" mary white helloooo " in Text. Trim(Text.Combine(Splitter.SplitTextByWhitespace()(str), " "))

  • Icey's avatar
    Icey
    Community Support
    5 years ago

    Hi michellepace ,

     

    Could Anonymous 's method meet your requirements?

     

    If it could, please accept his reply as a solution so that people who may have the same question can get the solution directly.

     

    If not, please let us know.

     

     

    Best Regards,

    Icey