So here is a news from strange but true department. Microsoft Excel blamed for gene study errors [bbc.com].
Microsoft’s Excel has been blamed for errors in academic papers on genomics.
Researchers trying to raise awareness of the issue claim that the spreadsheet software automatically converts the names of certain genes into dates.
Gene symbols like SEPT2 (Septin 2) were found to be altered to “September 2”.
Aah, classic!
This is what happens when you spend countless hours learning genome sequencing and very little about the software tools where your data goes. May be we need bring clippy back to warn people about such sticky situations.
All jokes aside, here is a public service announcement for you. Beware of helpful features in Excel like auto correct, flash fill, auto fill, scientific notation etc.
Here are a few tips for you if you find yourself coding genome in Excel (or something similar)
- Use TEXT format for data that contains possible dates, values that start with = etc. To set TEXT format, select data entry range and use Home > Number > Text
- This can deal with cells that contain possible dates, credit card numbers, very long numbers, leading zeros, fractions, values that start with = (which Excel thinks formulas )
- This can deal with cells that contain possible dates, credit card numbers, very long numbers, leading zeros, fractions, values that start with = (which Excel thinks formulas )
- When importing text files to Excel (like your genome sequence data or what have you), select text as data type for the columns that can be misinterpreted by Excel.
- If a cell starts with = and should not be treated as a formula, prefix the cell with ‘ apostrophe
- Disable features like Flash fill, auto complete and percentage entry if you must
Help the hapless, share your tips
Now its your turn. Please share your tips to handle situations like these. Post your tips in the comments box.
More reading:
Before you embark on saving sensitive stuff in spreadsheets, soak up some survival skills:
10 Responses to “Multiple Find Replace with Power Query List.Accumulate()”
Note: The text-formula above miss a -1. The video is correct.
😀 sorry, I made the exact same mistake as you did - initially - in the video. {0..3} is one thing, and Table.RowCount(replacements) -->3 items ={0,1,2} is another thing.
1st question : you've created a new column to put the replacements in. how ca we replace in the original column without creating a new one ?
2nd question : how can we replace the value in the entire cell and not only the text (Using ReplaceValue instead of text.Replace) ?
Thanks you in advance
Chandoo, I would be very interested to have your answers in both Yassine's questions!
Thank you for sharing,
Vassilis
Thank you for this! I was just doing an assignment where I was having to replace words with other words in my Excel sheet. We are starting with the basics in my class, so I know I don't have a huge list that I would need to find and replace, but this is something that could be useful down the road for me!
Hi
This is nearly perfect for my needs thank you, however I would like just the "replace" to be the result if possible please, I have tried in vain adjusting the formula without success.
Thank you in advance
Thank you! Awesome tip, and very flexible, too.
My find/replace values were in non-adjacent columns of a table containing a bunch of other data. Worked prefectly and I am now a tiny bit less clueless.
Hi!!!
I have the same question that Yassine did.
I need to replace the values in the same column. I don't want to create a new column e then have to remove the old column.
How could I could that?
That's a real fun article. It inspired me to delve deeper into the topic of List.Accumulate. I can see how the function works, but it takes an additional step to imagine how one can use it for more complex applications.
Your example also made it into my article, together with some other use-cases. Would be great to get your opinion on which other areas you would include in the article.
Let me drop the link to the page so others can too find it for further reading: https://gorilla.bi/power-query/list-accumulate/
Expression.Error: The name 'replacements' wasn't recognized. Make sure it's spelled correctly.