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How do I extract only the first few items in a list

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Posted on by donaldekpe

Hello,

I am trying to use the 'Extract data from webpage' action to extract just the first few items from a list of span elements on a webpage. Every time I select up to the second item, it automatically selects all the items for extraction. I do not need all the items, just the first 10 items. How do I go about this, please?

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lbendlin 8,726 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Add a loop counter variable to your flow. Exit the loop at the appropriate moment.

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VJR 7,635 on at

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Hi @donaldekpe

Every time I select up to the second item, it automatically selects all the items for extraction

This is by design that PAD automatically detects and gives us a table based on the first two selections.

Here are some options for what you are trying to do.

1. Extract just the first item. See its html in the Advanced Settings and likewise get the second item.

Eg;

/..../Div(0)/Input(0) -> if this gives the first item

/..../Div(0)/Input(1) -> then get the second item separately

Either use a separate Extract data from webpage or use the Handpicked values option of the Extract data from webpage to extract both at once

2. If you are having trouble with that then to get the first few items of a list below is the syntax

If MyList is your list then use %MyList[0:2]% to get the first two items.

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donaldekpe 65 on at

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Thank you for the response. How do I do this though. Do I add the extract action into the the loop and then select the first item to be extracted while the loop extracts the rest?

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donaldekpe 65 on at

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Thank you for the reply. I have tried using the handpicked option but I noticed it only extracts the values into just one row rather than in one column like a list would look like. I want to loop through the values extracted and so having everything in just one row would make it look like a single value only. I hope you get me.

You wrote something about a syntax. I believe that could help but how do I use that syntax, where do I put it, is it javascript? Sorry, I am a bit of a noob here, but I learn fast.

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VJR 7,635 on at

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For the syntax part of the answer:

Do what you were originally doing ie;

"'Extract data from webpage' action ....Every time I select up to the second item, it automatically selects all the items for extraction"

When you run this action in PAD it will give you the result in a datatable.

Then you can use a For each loop on the datatable and just get the top required rows. ie; If you need top 3 items then exit the loop after 3 iterations of the loop.

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donaldekpe 65 on at

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Ok, I get that. I actually want to continually loop through the first ten items without exiting, at least not until the flow itself is stopped.. Is there a way to do this?

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VJR 7,635 on at

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- Have a Counter variable set to 10

- Within the loop have a If condition to check if the value of Counter is greater than 10. If yes, use Exit Loop.

- Just before the loop end, increment the counter by 1

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donaldekpe 65 on at

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Thank you for the help. I will give that a try.

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Henrik_M 2,021 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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I remember seeing this syntax a long while back. Where did you discover it? 😅

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VJR 7,635 on at

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At first saw it on the forum itself 😊 and then found it here

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/variable-data-types

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