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

Enhance your career with this limited time 50% discount on Fabric and Power BI exams. Ends August 31st. Request your voucher.

Reply
vissvess
Helper V
Helper V

unusual unpivot for multiple columns

Hi,

 

I have imported and manipulated a data source upto the following stage.

 

SaleID     Part1    Part1Desc   Part2    Part2Desc    Part3    Part3Desc.......

73644    rdst4     carton box    yhdg3  Cushion 1      ad4fh    Support sleeve

...........         .....    ........ . ....... ........... so on..

 

I need a transformation such that it returns the following..

 

SaleID     Part#    PartDesc

73644      rdst4     carton box 

73644      yhdg3    Cushion 1     

73644       ad4fh    Support sleeve

........            ..........      ...........

 

Simple unpivot is not possible as the part# are intermittent inbetween their description.

 

So, could anyone explains the solution for this case.

 

Thanks in advance.

vissvess

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Zubair_Muhammad
Community Champion
Community Champion

Hi @vissvess 

 

We can do the unpivot after some tranformations

Please see attached file for steps. I added another dummy row for testing

 

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WMjc2MzFR0lEqSikuAdHJiUUl+XkKSfkVQE5lRkq6MZB2Li3OyASKGgLZiSkmaRlAOri0oCC/qEShOCc1tSxVKVYHYpYp1CxTFLMOLQBBI6iRJkhGgsSqSpMygZRffh66obEA", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [SaleID = _t, Part1 = _t, Part1Desc = _t, Part2 = _t, Part2Desc = _t, Part3 = _t, Part3Desc = _t]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"SaleID", Int64.Type}, {"Part1", type text}, {"Part1Desc", type text}, {"Part2", type text}, {"Part2Desc", type text}, {"Part3", type text}, {"Part3Desc", type text}}),
    #"Unpivoted Columns" = Table.UnpivotOtherColumns(#"Changed Type", {"SaleID"}, "Attribute", "Value"),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Unpivoted Columns", "Custom", each Text.Range([Attribute],4,1)),
    #"Added Custom1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Added Custom", "Custom.1", each Text.Replace([Attribute],[Custom],"")),
    #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom1",{"Attribute"}),
    #"Pivoted Column" = Table.Pivot(#"Removed Columns", List.Distinct(#"Removed Columns"[Custom.1]), "Custom.1", "Value"),
    #"Removed Columns1" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Pivoted Column",{"Custom"})
in
    #"Removed Columns1"

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2
Zubair_Muhammad
Community Champion
Community Champion

Hi @vissvess 

 

We can do the unpivot after some tranformations

Please see attached file for steps. I added another dummy row for testing

 

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WMjc2MzFR0lEqSikuAdHJiUUl+XkKSfkVQE5lRkq6MZB2Li3OyASKGgLZiSkmaRlAOri0oCC/qEShOCc1tSxVKVYHYpYp1CxTFLMOLQBBI6iRJkhGgsSqSpMygZRffh66obEA", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [SaleID = _t, Part1 = _t, Part1Desc = _t, Part2 = _t, Part2Desc = _t, Part3 = _t, Part3Desc = _t]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"SaleID", Int64.Type}, {"Part1", type text}, {"Part1Desc", type text}, {"Part2", type text}, {"Part2Desc", type text}, {"Part3", type text}, {"Part3Desc", type text}}),
    #"Unpivoted Columns" = Table.UnpivotOtherColumns(#"Changed Type", {"SaleID"}, "Attribute", "Value"),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Unpivoted Columns", "Custom", each Text.Range([Attribute],4,1)),
    #"Added Custom1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Added Custom", "Custom.1", each Text.Replace([Attribute],[Custom],"")),
    #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom1",{"Attribute"}),
    #"Pivoted Column" = Table.Pivot(#"Removed Columns", List.Distinct(#"Removed Columns"[Custom.1]), "Custom.1", "Value"),
    #"Removed Columns1" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Pivoted Column",{"Custom"})
in
    #"Removed Columns1"

Dear @Zubair_Muhammad ,

 

Thanks for the immediate and perfect solution. Kudos a lot for the effort taken.

 

Thankfully

vissvess

Helpful resources

Announcements
July PBI25 Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - July 2025

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

Join our Fabric User Panel

Join our Fabric User Panel

This is your chance to engage directly with the engineering team behind Fabric and Power BI. Share your experiences and shape the future.

June 2025 community update carousel

Fabric Community Update - June 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.