Coalese and replace in flow

[Anonymous]

Hi all. I have a bit of trouble with updating a string in SharePoint list items if the field is blank. I have tried to do a combination af Coalese and Replace, but it fails for me everytime. All I want is to avoid the "null errors" whenthe flow runs. The flow is at this time pretty simple:

A select component to pick the columns I need to make changes to:

A for each control, where I want to make the magic:

I have tried several things, for example:

Coalese(item()?['Column3'],'',replace(item()?['Column3'],'Old text','New text'))

if(coalesce(item()?['Column3'],'',replace(item()?['Column3'],'Old text','New text')))

Can anyone guide me in a correct direction, so I can make the changes to the list items without getting the "null error" when the field is blank. All I want is that if the field is not blank, then I need to replace a string, but I keep running into these "Null errors".

Thanks in advance

/Frank

[abm]

Hi @Anonymous 

Try the below expression

Coalese(item()?['Column3'],'New text'))

You can use the coalesce function to provide default values when a value is null. So in your case if the value is null then it will replace with 'New Text'.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Hi @abm and thx for quick reply. All I want is to avoid the blank fields, so if a field is blank, the flow should just ignore it, and continue til a field that has data. I cannot get your solution to do this 😐

/Frank

[abm · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous 

Try the following

if(equals(length(item()?['Column3']), 0), 'New Text', 'Old Text')

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Thx @abm It was not directly what I wanted but it led me in the right direction 🙏

Frank