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Multiple Select Tags to comma separated values?

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Declan_Peach
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Hello,

I’m attempting to use airable to manage a tag filtering system that feeds into a 3rd party database for my job. Problem is that multiple select tags seem to add an arbitrary space when converted to a string. This effectively eliminates its usefulness as our system cannot parse it.
Example:
ezgif-6-80ac1674a863

Is there any easy way to get around this? Perhaps an extra formula step to remove the space after each comma?

Thank you in advance!

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
Alex_Wolfe1
Airtable Employee
Airtable Employee

Hi there! You could use a formula field for this, and the SUBSTITUTE() function, which could remove those added spaces in its output:

SUBSTITUTE({insertYourFieldNameHere}," ","")

Since it looks like the linked records’ primary field values you’re working with don’t have spaces " " in them already, this should help with what you’re aiming to do here – but note it’ll replace any space in your field values.

Just make sure to replace {insertYourFieldNameHere} in the example above with the field name in your base :slightly_smiling_face:

Here’s what it could look like:
image

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4 Replies 4
Alex_Wolfe1
Airtable Employee
Airtable Employee

Hi there! You could use a formula field for this, and the SUBSTITUTE() function, which could remove those added spaces in its output:

SUBSTITUTE({insertYourFieldNameHere}," ","")

Since it looks like the linked records’ primary field values you’re working with don’t have spaces " " in them already, this should help with what you’re aiming to do here – but note it’ll replace any space in your field values.

Just make sure to replace {insertYourFieldNameHere} in the example above with the field name in your base :slightly_smiling_face:

Here’s what it could look like:
image

Hey!

That is perfect, thank you very much!

One thing to be aware of is that if any of your single select items contain spaces (which is valid), those will also be removed. A more precise approach with fewer possible drawbacks is to change the comma-space combo into an empty string:

SUBSTITUTE({Field Name}, ", ", "")

In your screen capture, it looks like you have a linked record field, not a multiple select field. It also looks like you are copying from the linked record field into a single line text field.

You can use a rollup field with the ARRAYJOIN aggregation formula, and you can specify whatever separator you like, including a single comma without a space.

I also just wrote a script that will copy the value from a linked record field to a text field or a multiple select field.