OData filter query working erratically.

[Blackbetty]

Hello

I've got a very strange problem with my flow. My flow is triggered when a new MS form is submitted. The whole point of the entire flow, is to return to the user the legal requirements imposed in my country enabling the user to apply for that specific job. 

My flow is triggered when a new MS form is submitted. The MS form is a set of questions about job applications. This submission is then copied to a Sharepoint list with Create item. After this I use get item to use its dynamic content to use it to filter another Sharepoint list with the legal requirements for the job the user is applying for. 

I then use the OData filter for Get items for the Legal requirements list;

Title eq 'OccupationType'

OccupationType being dynamic content derived from the Legal requirements list.

The strange thing is specifically this.....if the OccupationType is 'Nurse', it returns all the different records of Nurse OccupationType. Works well, as its expected to.

However, if the input is 'Tattooist' it returns no records. It is supposed to return 6 records. I checked whether there is a case mistake, extra spaces (even tried trim function) and spelling mistake...Everything matches perfectly.

Tried hardcoding the value....it returns the records - (the filter query Input when testing is identical in both cases .... Title eq 'Tattooist' (@RezaDorrani also suggested this)

Hardcoded inputdynamic content inputOutput of Get item query

Tried directly filtering the Sharepoint list through Sharepoint itself to see if i get results - all the expected records are returned (@RezaDorrani also suggested this)

I tried putting it in a variable first, tried an identical column with the same data in Title, tried building an entire identical Sharepoint list, made sure the column is in fact called Title, everything. I have found no help on forums on this. Seems occult.

Can you help?

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

Do you have over 5000 items in your list?

[grantjenkins]

I'd suggest validating that the value being returned from the MS Form for Tattooist is exactly the same at the literal string "Tattooist". At least this might identify whether that is the root cause or not. Perhaps it has a special character in the MS Form that just isn't showing up when you view it in the flow.

Try the following to see if the Compose Check returns true (equal) or false (no equal). Additionally the Compose Encoded will show any special characters.

encodeUriComponent(outputs('Compose'))

equals(outputs('Compose'),'Tattooist')

[Blackbetty]

No the list is very small. But @grantjenkins is onto something...

[Blackbetty]

Hello, 

So it looks like you are right. 

Something is creating a lot of characters out of thin air? 

I showed this to a friend of my and troubleshooted with him....I mentioned that I had copied the list from excel and pasted it to the MS forms choice question where I ask the job applied for.... so he suggested that I copy/paste the list from excel to a simple text editor (Using TextEdit on Mac). It worked and 'Tattooist' was validated correctly...

until....it did the same with 'Food Handlers'. I re-wrote it manually in the MS Form but still.... this is the result....

Food%20Handlers%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B

Any thoughts?

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

Read this?

remove unwanted characters from MS form to email f... - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)