Apr 16, 2020 03:56 AM
I’m trying to create a template for a source bibliography that would include punctuation in the formula.
I have multiple fields that will eventually be combined. Can someone tell me why I’m getting an X in Column 1, Row 3, when Column 3, Row 3 is blank? I would have expected that field to be blank.
Here’s my records
Here’s my formula
Thank you,
Stacey
Solved! Go to Solution.
Apr 16, 2020 06:41 AM
This thread has some example formulas for concatenation with blank values, depending on whether or not the first field is optional.
Apr 16, 2020 04:14 AM
Hey there - They reason is because you’ve set the condition to equal “Creator &X” if it is not blank
So you’ll actually have the same problem in the first two rows
You would need to change your formula to be:
IF (Census !=BLANK(), "",, Census)
Or some variation of that depending on what you want your end result to be
Keep in mind that there are three parts, all separated by commas:
Apr 16, 2020 04:50 AM
Hi @Stacey_Cummings, @andywingrave - the problem here is that you can’t use:
Census != BLANK()
Airtable formulas don’t work with !=
Census != BLANK()
always evaluates to true, so you need to use:
NOT(Census = BLANK())
JB
Apr 16, 2020 04:59 AM
Correction to this !=
does seem to work with number fields (and maybe other things too) - but doesn’t appear to work with != BLANK()
Not sure what is going on under the hood here as it doesn’t throw an error - maybe someone else knows?!
Apr 16, 2020 05:24 AM
Thank you, That was totally messing me up. It worked sometimes and not others (!=). I figured I had something else wrong and been spinning around on that.
I’ve changed my formula to just be = BLANK. Now I’m stuck on something else. Basically I have 10 columns. I need to evaluate each column, if it is BLANK return “”; if it is not blank return ", " and the field. In the end I’ll have all the columns concatenated into a complete Source for a bibliography.
If anyone can point me to an example of something like that; I could try to mimic.
Thanks
Stacey
Apr 16, 2020 06:41 AM
This thread has some example formulas for concatenation with blank values, depending on whether or not the first field is optional.
Apr 16, 2020 09:52 AM
This solved my problem, Concatenation Discrepancy Thank you!!! I can now avoid having several different tables for different types of sources too!!
Apr 17, 2020 12:06 AM
If finally understand what you are talking about. I kept thinking about it :slightly_smiling_face: and I didn’t get it. It’s because I have () after Blank, so ) closes the condition and my TRUE is return Creator & X. Got it now.
I see where I got confused about it. In the Formula field reference guide if you search on BLANK
For an overview of formula fields, please refer to the Guide to Formula, Lookup, Count, and Rollup fields. Formulas may involve functions, numeric operations, logical operations, and text operation...
It says
BLANK() Returns a blank value. IF(Price > 1000000, BLANK(), “Wow, that’s pretty expensive”)
Since that formula has BLANK(), I thought you must have to use () after Blank all the time.
Thank you Saastronomical.
Stacey