Filter transformation in mapping data flow

APPLIES TO: Azure Data Factory Azure Synapse Analytics

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Data flows are available both in Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Pipelines. This article applies to mapping data flows. If you are new to transformations, please refer to the introductory article Transform data using a mapping data flow.

The Filter transforms allows row filtering based upon a condition. The output stream includes all rows that match the filtering condition. The filter transformation is similar to a WHERE clause in SQL.

Configuration

Use the data flow expression builder to enter an expression for the filter condition. To open the expression builder, click on the blue box. The filter condition must be of type boolean. For more information on how to create an expression, see the expression builder documentation.

Data flow script

Syntax

<incomingStream>
    filter(
        <conditionalExpression>
    ) ~> <filterTransformationName>

Example

The below example is a filter transformation named FilterBefore1960 that takes in incoming stream CleanData. The filter condition is the expression year <= 1960.

In the UI, this transformation looks like the below image:

The data flow script for this transformation is in the snippet below:

CleanData
    filter(
        year <= 1960
    ) ~> FilterBefore1960

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