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Funny Error in Substitute Function

  • January 5, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 20 views
M

I’m wanting to convert one of my fields into characters that Windows doesn’t throw a fit over using. That means if someone types in “30” Refrigerator", I would like to convert that quotation mark after the 30 to “inch”, because Windows doesn’t allow you to use quotations in file names.

My formula is as follows: SUBSTITUTE({Name},""",“inch”)

This gives me an error. Now I’m guessing that Airtable also considers the quotation mark as a special function character, so it does not accept “”" as a valid search query.

Kind of a funnily specific circumstance to cause this dilemma. Is there any work around for this type of thing or am I just out of luck?

    3 replies

    Kamille_Parks11
    Forum|alt.badge.img+27

    You have to type a \ before the quotation mark. So your formula would look like this:
    SUBSTITUTE({Name},"\\"","inch")

      M
      • Mitchell_Wells1
      • Author
      • Known Participant
      • January 5, 2019

      You have to type a \ before the quotation mark. So your formula would look like this:
      SUBSTITUTE({Name},"\\"","inch")


      Cool, that totally works! Props to the Airtable team for accounting for this type of thing.

      Thanks Kamille.

        W
        Forum|alt.badge.img+5
        • W_Vann_Hall
        • Inspiring
        • January 5, 2019

        Cool, that totally works! Props to the Airtable team for accounting for this type of thing.

        Thanks Kamille.


        You can also use single quotes to surround double quotes you want to treat as a character;

        SUBSTITUTE({Name},'"','inch')

        would also work. In complex statements, sometimes one method can be easier to troubleshoot and maintain than the other, depending on what else is going on.

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