Power Automate+Sharepoint: How to Move files with Duplicated name to other folder?

[piramidbook]

Hello, I am new to Power Automate and am now looking for a guideline to move files with Duplicated names to other folders in Sharepoint

The case scenarios:
These are the files in my working folder:

AAA - TestTest.xlsx

AAA - TestTest(1).xlsx

AAA - TestTest(2).xlsx

AAA - TestTest(3).xlsx

BBB - TestTest.xlsx

BBB - TestTest(1).xlsx

BBB - TestTest(2).xlsx

BBB - TestTest(3).xlsx

.

.

(so on)
---
I want the latest edited files, so I tried to look into the LastModified but still to no avail.
---
the result I want to see:

AAA - TestTest(3).xlsx

BBB - TestTest(3).xlsx
.
.
.

Are there any guidelines for designing the flow that
1. loops through the string in front of the symbol (-) and if the string is the same, pick only the LastModified files and move to the working folder

OR

2. loops through the string in front of the symbol (-) and if the string is the same, pick the files that are not LastModified and move them to the unused folder

I also tried to use split() in the condition flow but it doesn't work.

Thank you in advance and Best regards,

[grantjenkins · Accepted solution]

This is one way to get what you're after. Note that I'm assuming you want to move the files based on last modified and that all the file names start with some prefix followed by a space, a hyphen, a space, and then the name of the file. PREFIX - File name

For this example I have the following files in my Working folder. The flow should move the two files that are highlighted.

Below is the full flow. I'll go into each of the actions.

Get files (properties only) retrieves all the files. I've also set the Order By so it sorts the files by Modified date in descending order.

Select gets a list of all the prefixes that we will use in our Apply to each. The expression used is below.

slice(item()?['{Name}'], 0, add(indexOf(item()?['{Name}'], '-'), 1))

Apply to each iterates over each unique prefix using the union expression to remove any duplicates.

union(body('Select'), body('Select'))

Filter array filters out the files where the name starts with the current prefix we are iterating over.

Move file uses the following expression to get the first item returned in our Filter array and then gets the File Identifier. We know that the first file is the latest one since we sorted our files by Modified date in descending order.

first(body('Filter_array'))?['{Identifier}']

After running the flow, the two files should be moved to the Latest folder.

Working Folder

Latest Folder

[piramidbook]

Thank you for the thorough guidelines; however, when I try on my flow, there are some problems.

This might be a dumb question but why me select is different from yours?

my Filter array also has a problem

Just in case the pic is too small:

InvalidTemplate. The execution of template action 'Filter_array' failed: The evaluation of 'query' action 'where' expression '@startsWith(item()?['{Name}'], items('Apply_to_each_2'))' failed: 'The template language function 'startsWith' expects its second parameter to be of type string. The provided value is of type 'Object'. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions#startswith for usage details.'.

The picture below is my full flow if you need it.

[grantjenkins]

For the Select you need to switch over to Text mode before adding the expression.

This should also automatically fix the issue you are having with the Filter array.

[piramidbook]

Thanks a lot, you have made my day! I got the gist of it now.

Two last questions:

1. I try to run there is an error notifying me that Failed to verify the existence of the source object.
I think it happens because the file has already moved, but the loop is still looking for it. Anyway, to fix it?


2. Is there any way to rework the

first(body('Filter_array'))?['{Identifier}']

this expression is to move the first file to the working folder right?
What about if I want to remove the rest of the file that is not the first?
I have tried 

skip(body('Filter_array'), 1)

but it doesn't work.

Thank you again and Best regards,

[grantjenkins · Accepted solution]

I would let the the Apply to each complete (move all of the most recent files across). Then after the Apply to each, use Get files (properties only) again to retrieve the remaining files (ones that didn't move) and use another Apply to each to move these where you want.

[piramidbook]

Hi There!

Thanks for your advice, now I have successfully done the tasks!

And I even wrote the article on it with giving you credit! (and It will also be the documentation for this project)

For those who come to see the post after some years or months, this is the link.
https://medium.com/@pyramidofmerlin/power-automate-sharepoint-how-to-move-files-with-duplicated-pref...