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how to compare list item value to datatable column

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Posted on by NA-03061633-0

hi all,

my use case - I have to compare if list item value is present in data table column name or not ......the column name position is not fixed in data table . How to do this in power automate desktop

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11manish 3,333 on at

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In Power Automate Desktop, you don’t need to worry about column position because you can reference columns by name.

If the column name is known, use actions like “Filter Data Table” or “If Data Table contains value” to check if a list item exists.

If the column name is not fixed, loop through rows and columns dynamically or extract the column into a list and use a contains check.

This ensures reliable comparison regardless of column position.

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Valantis 6,735 on at

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Hi @NA-03061633-0,

Since the column position isn't fixed, you need to check by column name rather than index. In Power Automate Desktop you can get all column names from a datatable using the datatable's Columns property, then check if your list item value exists in that collection.

Here's the approach:

1. Use a "Get column names from datatable" action or reference %YourDataTable.Columns% directly this gives you a list of all column names
2. Use an "If item in list" condition: check if %YourListItemValue% is in %YourDataTable.Columns%

If PAD doesn't have a built-in datatable columns property in your version, the workaround is to loop through the first row of the datatable and check each cell's column header against your value using a For each loop with the datatable's column names.

Can you share what version of PAD you're using and whether your list item is a text value you want to match against a column name, or a value inside a specific column? That will help narrow down the exact action to use.

Best regards,

Valantis

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