Table of Contents
RENAME COLUMNS BY LOOKUP
Category: Transform / Advanced
Description
This action renames columns in a table by looking up old and new column names in another table.
The lookup table should have 2 columns: one containing the old names, and one listing the new names.
Use cases
This action is typically used when names of columns to rename and/or the new names are not known in advance and have to be generated dynamically during a calculation, or from a set of known names in a lookup table.
Action settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Lookup table | Select the table containing the old and new column name values. |
| Column with old names | Select the column in the selected table that contains the original column name values. |
| Column with new names | Select the column in the selected table that contains the new column name values. |
The reference to the second table will appear as a dotted line connecting this action to the second dataset in the application window.
Remarks
This action is case sensitive. If the lookup values do not match the existing column names case-wise, a match is not made and the new column name is not assigned.
If a match to a column is not found in the "old names" lookup column, the column will retain its original name.
Examples
Example: Rename the columns in Table 1 using the old/new name pairings in Table 2.
Table 1: Source table columns.
| FName | LName | Add1 | Cty | ST | Zip |
|---|
Table 2: Lookup table
| Old names | New names |
|---|---|
| FName | FirstName |
| LName | LastName |
| Add1 | Address |
| Cty | City |
| St | State |
| Zip | Zip Code |
Action parameters:
Lookup Table is "Table 2"
Column with old names is "Old names"
Column with new names is "New names"
Result table:
| FirstName | LastName | Address | City | ST | Zip Code |
|---|
Notice that "ST" wasn't renamed to "State" due to case issues ("ST" vs. "St").
Community examples
- Dynamic transformation (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1; Table: Result; Action position: 4)
- Finding all projects with particular action (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1; Table: Projects with sandboxes; Action position: 3)
- Create dynamic list from delimited text (dynamic split/dynamic generate list) (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1; Table: Output; Action position: 5)