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In this “Power Automate Contains Function” article, we will learn about how to work with the contains function in Power Automate flow with real-time project-based examples.
Microsoft Power Automate is a robust tool for automating workflows, enabling organizations to streamline and optimize various tasks. One of its versatile functions is the “contains” function, which allows users to check if a given string contains a specific substring. In this article, we will explore the Power Automate contains function and provide a real-time example to illustrate its practical application.
Power Automate Contains Function with Real-Time Example
Before getting into the article, let’s understand what contains a function in Power Automate.
What is Contains Function in Power Automate?
In simple terms, the contains function checks whether a collection has a specific item, and it returns true when the item is found or false when it is not found. This function is case-sensitive.
The contains function in Power Automate is a valuable feature that enables you to check whether a specified string contains a particular substring. It is particularly useful when dealing with text manipulation within your workflows. This function returns a Boolean value, indicating whether the substring is found within the given text.
The syntax of the contains function is straightforward:
contains('<collection>', '<value>')
contains([<collection>], '<value>')
Parameters:
- <collection>_Required: The data types are String, Array, or Dictionary. The collection to check
- <value>_Required: The data types are String, Array, or Dictionary, respectively. The item to find
Notes:
- A string to find a substring
- An array to find a value
- A dictionary to find a key
Example: Find a product in the product array
Let’s say we have the below items in the product array variable.
[ "Desktop", "Headphone", "Laptop", "Monitor", "Mouse" ]
Now, let’s check whether the ‘Laptop’ product is available in this production array. To check that, we need to use the below expression:
contains(variables('varProductArray'), 'Laptop')
Find a product from the product arrayNote:
- Here in this demo, we have used the compose action.
Output:
Once we run this flow, we can see the output as ‘true” as this product ‘Laptop’ is available in the product array.
Example: Check a substring in the string
To check whether a substring text exists in the given string, we can use the below expression:
contains('Power Automate', 'Automate')
Output:
- true because the word ‘Automate’ is found in the string ‘Power Automate’.
Example: Checking if a Name Contains a Specific Character
To find a name that contains a specific character, we can use the below contains function:
contains('John Doe', 'D')
Output:
- true because the letter ‘D’ is found in the name ‘John Doe’.
Example: Checking for Substring in a Longer Text
To check for a substring in a longer text, we can use the below expression:
contains('The quick brown fox', 'quick')
Output:
- true because the substring ‘quick‘ is found within the text ‘The quick brown fox’.
Example: Checking for the Absence of a Substring
To check for the absence of a substring in a string, we can use the below contains function:
contains('This is a sample text', 'missing')
Output:
- false because the substring ‘missing‘ is not found within the text.
Example: Using Contains in a Condition to Trigger an Action
In a real-time scenario, you can use the contains function in a condition to trigger a specific action. For instance, if you’re monitoring social media mentions, you can check if a post contains a certain keyword and then take an action accordingly. The condition would look like:
contains(triggerOutputs()?['body'], 'important_keyword')
Output:
- If the keyword is found in the social media post, the condition is true, and you can take actions like sending a notification or saving the post to a database. If the keyword is not found, the condition is false.
Example: Checking for Partial Matches in a List
You can use contains in combination with other functions to check if a value exists in a list of values.
Suppose you have a list of fruit names, and you want to check if a specific fruit is in the list.
contains('apple, banana, orange, grape', 'banana')
Output:
- true because ‘banana’ is one of the items in the comma-separated list.
Summary: Power Automate Contains Function (Power Automate Functions)
Thus, in this article, we have learned about the Power Automate Contains function with a couple real-time examples considering real-time project scenarios.
See Also: Power Platform Articles
You may also visit the Power Platform article hub, where you will see a bunch of articles focusing on Power Platform, like Power Automate, Power Apps, etc. All the articles are written with real-time project scenarios and troubleshooting techniques. For the Power Automate function references, you may refer to this Microsoft Power Automate Function references article.
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