Special characters in variable

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Posted on by rohinMVP

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I have a requirement to copy some names from a SP list to another list.

The flow I have created works fine except when the names have an apostrophe.

As I am looping through the names, I won't be able to use the escape character logic.

OR will I?

Any idea on how to handle the names?

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efialttes 14,756 on at

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@rohinMVP

Can you share an screenshot from your flow definition and another one from the execution result with one of the names with apostrophe?

Thanx!

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rohinMVP 149 on at

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@efialttesI won't be able to provide a screenshot.

However, the error message is like this: The expression "Organization eq 'JOHN'S FOUNDATION'" is not valid.

The filter query for my Get Items step is Organization eq 'OrganizationName'

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efialttes 14,756 on at

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Thanx for the info!

I found this topic covering -I guess- the same OData apostrophe related problem.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Using-a-value-with-a-single-quote-as-an-Odata-filter-query/td-p/37043

Hope this helps

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rohinMVP 149 on at

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Thanks @efialttes .

The link you provided helped me get my flow running.

Now I have the below step to catch the apostrophes.
replace(items('Apply_to_each')?['Department']?['Value'],'''','''''')

I save the output to a variable, and use it in the below filter
DepName eq '[DepartmenName]'

However, if I insert the value in DepartmentName to my list, it will be saved with two quotes.
like JOHN''S FOUNDATION.

I had to get around this by doing a replace again:
replace(variables('DepartmentName'),'''''','''')

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efialttes 14,756 on at

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@rohinMVP

Thanx for taking some extra time to document and share your workaround details!

I have also marked it as a solution, since I'm sure it will help others in the future.

You guys make this community great!

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rw_ga 137 on at

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I know this is a 3yr old topic, but I ran across a similar issue when trying to use data containing special characters in JSON format. The special characters caused JSON issues. While searching I ran across this post and another one where the solution seems to only require 2 actions. A select data operation action and compose data operation. The link where I found the solution is here: (26) Power Automate - An easy way to generate JSON objects without worrying about special characters | LinkedIn. Instead of using [0] in the compose I used first(). either way seems to work, but the select action appears to handle all the work of escaping the characters. So far so good!

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