is it possible to replace multiple strings in one replace function?

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Posted on by Community Power Pla...

Im running into the following problem:

Got a flow that creates folders in SharePoint from Accounts in CRM dynamics.

But in CRM it is possible to use special characters in the accountname.

When the flow gets triggered and a special character is used.

It fails because a folder name can`t contain one of these characters.

Example of invalid characters:

# % * : < > ? / |

Im trying to replace these characters with @replace. But i dont know if its possible to replace all the characters in one function?

What i got now is:

replace(body('Account')['name'], '#, %, *, :, <, >, ?, /, |', '')

Please let me know if its possible

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Building flows

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Community Power Pla... on at

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Oke so i have been trying a lot of things and came up with a solution.

I created an array in the Flow with all the characters that are invalid.
Then created a foreach loop.
In this loop i let the replace function loop through all items in the array and change the string with the invalid character.

SO its fixed.

If anyone is interessted so below for the short version:

replace it with this expression:
replace(body('Account_ophalen_in_foreach')['name'], item(), '')

body('Account_ophalen_in_foreach')['name'] = the action to get account from dynamics and [name] is the name.

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GrzegorzM 18 on at

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Hi,

This is very interesting, but I cannot make it work. I want to clear a text from all special characters.

When I run a loop, every time it starts from the initial text...

Could you post a full screen of your flow, including your loop?

My flow looks like this, but it does not work like I want it. It replaces each character individually - but I do not get one "clear" output text...

Thanks!

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Community Power Pla... on at

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Hi,

I had this problem also.
This is because u have to include the result in your loop.

In my case i`m eliminating the special characters from the accountname and the subject name of a sales opportunity(SO) in CRM.
This means i have to start with getting the variable of the accountname and subject of SO.
Then start the replacement. (i edit an extra check if variable is different from the original variable and the replacement variable, if yes then it will change the name according to the new name without a special character).
If the accountname has multiple special characters in the name, it will delete the special characters one by one)

When the loop starts again after a special character has already been removed, it will start looking for a new special characters with the change name of subject. i hope this is clear 🙂

A few printscreens from my loop:

(somehow i cant insert pictures) Ill post them asap.

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SimonH 8 on at

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could post a screenshot of your expanded condition?
But if Iunderstand you correctly, in your condition you are writing back to dynamics, so when the loop starts again it works with the updated variable?

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GrzegorzM 18 on at

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I get the idea, but it would help a lot if you could post the printscreen with expanded loops sections - the formulas are key here 🙂

Thanks a million!

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Community Power Pla... on at

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Here they are

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SimonH 8 on at

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thanks peter,

As I don't use Dynamics I ended up using a Variable action instead. Initialise a varibale outside the for each and setting it to the initial value target output converted to text in this cse), then in the loop, set the variable with the upated value.

this works great if you want to replace the text with the same value (or in this case remove it) but I'm wondering if instead of an array you could use a json, where you find the 'key' then update it with the value.

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GrzegorzM 18 on at

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Simon, could you please post the formula you have in replace(...) ? If I understand well, I need to refer to replace text in the 'textfeed' variable, but not really sure how to refer to content of this variable?

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GrzegorzM 18 on at

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Thanks Peter for initial solution, and thanks Simon for your printscreens. I managed to figure this out also for my flow.

For anyone who is interested, here are the 2 formulas you need:
createArray('&','_',',','.',';',':','/','"','"','!','@','$','%','^','+','=','\','|','<','>','{','}')
replace(Variables('textfeed'),item(),'')
And also the printscreens of my solution.

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MichaelS66 22 on at

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You can use replace within replace. I used this to remove illegal character in email subject. Not pretty but it works.
replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(triggerBody()?['Subject'],':',''),'%',''),'#',''),'*',''),'<',''),'>',''),'?',''),'/',''),'"','')

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