Table.Column

Table

Returns a list of all values from the named column.

Examples on this page use shared sample tables. View them to understand the input data before reading the examples below.

Syntax

Table.Column(table as table, column as text) as list

Parameters

NameTypeRequiredDescription
tabletableYesThe table to extract the column from.
columntextYesThe name of the column to extract.

Return Value

listA list containing all values from the specified column.

Remarks

Table.Column extracts all values from a named column and returns them as a list. It is a concise shorthand for Table.ToColumns(Table.SelectColumns(table, {column})){0} and the result is identical to accessing a column via table[ColumnName] syntax. The table[ColumnName] shorthand is often preferred for brevity in expressions, while Table.Column` is clearer in procedural step-by-step queries.

The returned list is commonly passed to aggregation functions such as List.Sum, List.Max, List.Distinct, or List.Average. If the column name does not exist, an error is raised at runtime. To avoid this in dynamic scenarios, guard with Table.HasColumns first.

Table.Column does not fold to data sources. If you need aggregate values from a large database table, prefer native aggregation via Table.Group or source-side functions to preserve query folding.

Examples

Example 1: Extract all unit prices from the Products table

let
    Products = #table(
        type table [ProductID = number, ProductName = text, Category = text, Price = number, InStock = logical],
        {{1, "Widget A", "Widgets", 25.00, true}, {2, "Gadget B", "Gadgets", 50.00, true},
         {3, "Widget C", "Widgets", 15.00, false}, {4, "Gadget D", "Gadgets", 75.00, true},
         {5, "Thingamajig E", "Misc", 120.00, false}}
    )
in
    Table.Column(Products, "Price")
Output
Result
1{25, 50, 15, 75, 120}

Example 2: Sum all order quantities

let
    Sales = #table(
        {"OrderID", "CustomerName", "Product", "Category", "UnitPrice", "Quantity", "OrderDate", "Region"},
        {{1,"Alice","Widget A","Widgets",25.00,4,#date(2024,1,15),"East"},
         {2,"Bob","Gadget B","Gadgets",50.00,2,#date(2024,1,18),"West"},
         {3,"Charlie","Widget C","Widgets",15.00,10,#date(2024,2,1),"East"}}
    ),
    Quantities = Table.Column(Sales, "Quantity")
in
    List.Sum(Quantities)
Applied Steps

The final output — sums the Quantities list to produce the total number of units ordered.

Result
116

Example 3: Get distinct customer names

let
    Sales = #table(
        {"OrderID", "CustomerName", "Product"},
        {{1,"Alice","Widget A"},{2,"Bob","Gadget B"},{3,"Alice","Widget C"},{4,"Bob","Gadget D"}}
    ),
    Names = Table.Column(Sales, "CustomerName")
in
    List.Distinct(Names)
Applied Steps

The final output — removes duplicates from the Names list, returning only the unique customer names.

Result
1{"Alice", "Bob"}

Compatibility

Power BI Desktop Power BI Service Excel Desktop Excel Online Dataflows Fabric Notebooks
Contributors
kyleamueller