Using Compose to Replace Apostrophe or Single Quote with No Space in Power Automate

[bryn_wood]

I have a flow that successfully replaces hyphens in names after removing the spaces (to work in conjunction with table names that don't allow for either). Now I'm trying to add an action to also remove apostrophes from names but it's throwing an error. Any ideas?

Remove User Name Space - working well

replace(variables('User Name'),' ','')

Replace Hyphen - working well

replace(outputs('Remove_User_Name_Space'),'-','')

Replace Apostrophe - trying this, getting invalid error

replace(outputs('Remove_User_Name_Space'),''','')

[trice602 · Accepted solution]

Hi @bryn_wood ,

Here's the expression to replace an apostrophe with nothing (removes apostrophe).

replace(variables('test'),'''','')

[trice602]

Hi @bryn_wood ,

So four (4) '''' 

Please mark as a solution.

[bryn_wood]

Thank you @trice602! I'll report back next week after we run the flow again. My flow accepted without the error when I changed to replace(outputs('Remove_User_Name_Space'),'"','') instead of trying to use this replace(outputs('Remove_User_Name_Space'),''',''), so fingers crossed!

[bryn_wood]

Thank you @trice602! I'll report back next week after we run the flow again. My flow accepted without the error when I changed to replace(outputs('Remove_User_Name_Space'),'"','') instead of trying to use this replace(outputs('Remove_User_Name_Space'),''',''), so fingers crossed!

[trice602]

Hi @bryn_wood ,

Very nice!  I am 100% confident it will work.  One thing that you can also adopt in testing new expressions is to add a terminate action directly below your compose to replace your apostrophe.  Then resubmit that last run and verify it works (before next week), then remove the terminate action.  Resave.  Good to go!  Looking forward to the results!

[bryn_wood]

Thank you @trice602. I think I want to hold on running again, even up to that point since it affects a large number of tables/trackers; some with unique manual adjustments after flow populates them. If I rerun, in theory it shouldn't reach the point to overwrite, but I'd hate for even a slight possibility of overwrite to the manual adjustments. I'll definitely report back after next scheduled run next Wednesday morning.

[trice602]

Understood.  Looking forward to the feedback next week! 😀

[bryn_wood]

@trice602 Alright, reporting back that this update did not fix my issue unfortunately. It doesn't seem like the flow removed the apostrophe from names with apostrophes to then be able to match with and find the individuals' tables to then update with data. So for example, the flow sees the name Chase O'Connor and I need it to convert to ChaseOConnor in order to match with the related table to be updated (since Excel table names won't allow spaces and symbols). It successfully removes hyphens with the step I posted in my original post, but no such luck with the new step for apostrophe names yet. Any other ideas by chance?

This is what I added to the flow:

replace(outputs('Remove_User_Name_Space'),'"','')

[bryn_wood]

Alright @trice602 I think my coworker figured out the winning fix (thank you for helping us, it was definitely a teamwork situation)! We ended up creating a sub issue by adding in the Replace Apostrophe step and she caught this and was able to tweak the Replace Apostrophe step (and a related step).

Here was the issue:

That highlighted function should be set to Replace the Hyphen step as each step just feeds into the next. We were creating 2 outputs for Remove User Name Space. This was the fix for it:

Lastly this had to be fixed as we were telling it to create two table names:

We had Outputs set as Replace Hyphen and Replace Apostrophe. Because we changed our step for Replace Apostrophe to include all outputs from the steps before, we didn’t need two outputs in Table anymore.

Updated:

[trice602]

Nice! Please consider marking one or more replies as a solution ( including your last reply) to help others find this thread. 

[bryn_wood]

Done, thank you again for all your help on the original solution!