Answered

Remove Item From List Using Logical expressions with contains

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by Steve48

431

I have a list that I am iterating but it is too slow. So I want to preprocess the list and remove items that I know are of no interest.

For example, I want to delete all items that contain "progressive" OR all items that have a length less than 4. Is there a way to include Coontains and logic expressions in the value box. If yes what is the syntax? Or do I have to write a loop and delete items using the index number?

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

I have the same question (0)

All responses (6)

Answers (1)

Sort by

UshaJyothiKasibhotla 225 Moderator on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Loop through the item values
The. Use if activity write condition if listvariable contains progressive. then use remove item from the list.
Or
Use for each
Take if activity then take your variable.length <4
Then remove the item from list
Hope this helps
Usha

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

Agnius Bartninkas Most Valuable Professional on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Removing item based on value only supports using the literal value. So, if you do not have a specific value that would be an exact match, you do in fact need to build a loop to remove the items.

Alternative options would be joining the list into a string, then using Replace text with regex to remove the items, and then splitting the text into a list again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I have answered your question, please mark it as the preferred solution. If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up.

I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Nived_Nambiar 18,138 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @Steve48

You can try the approach what @UshaJyothi20 suggested. Apart from that, we can try that using python code in power automate desktop. See below

Step1: assign a list variable with some sample values like below

Step2: Join the list using colon as seperator

Step 3: use python script which filters out the data from list like below

The above code will split the JoinedText by : and then use List comprehension to filter out elements which has Progressive elements on it and which has length of element <4

The output of python script is stored in %PythonScriptOutput% variable which is a string.

Now use that variable to split it based on colon again using split text action like below and store the result in same List variable like below

Note: use Trimmed method on %PythonScriptOutput% as i had shown above to remove the new line generated in %PythonScriptOutput% output 🙂

Hope this helps !

Thanks & Regards,
Nived N 🚀

LinkedIn: Nived N's LinkedIn
YouTube: Nived N's YouTube Channel

🔍 Found my answer helpful? Please consider marking it as the solution!
Your appreciation keeps me motivated. Thank you! 🙌

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Steve48 431 on at

Like (1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @Agnius
You answered my question. I need a loop. Thank you.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Steve48 431 on at

Like (1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @UshaJyothi20 I ended up adding a loop as show below. I collected all of my matching elements in one variable called "criteria' which makes the code a bit neater.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Steve48 431 on at

Like (1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @Nived_Nambiar cc @Agnius
I ended up using a loop which I included in y reply to @UshaJyothi20
However I plan to try the python approach too. I only have Python 3 installed si will install Python 2. I wonder when Python 3 will introduced to PAD. In trying to understand how to use the Run Python script Ation I hadn't understood that the output was the result of print. Thank you for your help.
Steve

Was this reply helpful? Yes No