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How i can split a sting to generate Array without empty string

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Posted on by johnjohnPter

1,849 Season of Giving Solutions 2025

I have a Child Flow which accept names in a semi-collon separate string, here are examples of the string:-

;test

test;test2

test;;test2

test

now i want to generate an array but i do not want the array to have empty strings .. can i write a single formula to do this? i do not want to do a separate action to filter the Array. i am searching to do this in a single formula..Thanks

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Building flows

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lbendlin 8,649 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Are these all the possible examples? :-)

split(

if(

startswith(replace(outputs('String'),';;',';'),';'),

substring(replace(outputs('String'),';;',';'),1),

if(endswith(replace(outputs('String'),';;',';'),';'),

substring(replace(outputs('String'),';;',';'),0,length(replace(outputs('String'),';;',';'))-1),

replace(outputs('String'),';;',';')

)

)

,';')

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johnjohnPter 1,849 Season of Giving Solutions 2025 on at

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@lbendlin

Thanks for the formula, but i got that it is not valid when i add it to the compose action. any advice? As i know that SubString() should contain 3 parameters, but your first SubString() contains only 2 parameters

for the combination, i might have this string format:-

;p;;p6;

where i only need p & p6..
Thanks

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Suggested answer

Ellis Karim 11,994 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Would this expression work for you? I've updated the expression based on your sample data.

json(replace(replace(string(split(variables('varString'),';')),'"",',''), '""]',']'))

Ellis

https://elliskarim.com/

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lbendlin 8,649 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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The third parameter of substring is optional if you want to get the whole rest of the string.

I forgot that you cannot subtract numbers easily in Power Automate.

split(
substring(replace(variables('String'),';;',';'),
if(startswith(replace(variables('String'),';;',';'),';'),1,0),
sub(length(replace(variables('String'),';;',';')),
add(if(startswith(replace(variables('String'),';;',';'),';'),1,0),
if(endswith(replace(variables('String'),';;',';'),';'),1,0)
)
)
)
,';')

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johnjohnPter 1,849 Season of Giving Solutions 2025 on at

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@lbendlin

Thanks , but i am getting invalid error when i tried to add your formula

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lbendlin 8,649 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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I updated my response.

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