Will Unique include the null's count in column profiling in Power BI desktop?

Question

Just have a question on column profiling in Power Query editor

Number Text

1 B

3 C

0 B

4

null A

2 C

5 A

This is my table and column profiling shows
Number

Count7 Count7 Error0 Empty1 Distinct7 Unique7 Empty string1 Min Max5
Text

Count7 Count7 Error0 Empty1 Distinct4 Unique1 Empty string1 Min Max C As a result nulls are included in both distinct and unique am i right?

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Answer 1

hello Shri Gomathivalli Thangappatham,

yeah, I’ve run into this a few times myself… the profiling numbers can look a bit odd when u’ve got nulls in the column.

in my experience, Power Query treats null like any other value during profiling, so it ends up counted in both distinct and unique unless u filter it out first.

it throws people off the first time, but what u’re seeing there lines up with how PQ handles it.

Answer 2

A better place to ask questions about Power BI is https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Forums/ct-p/PBI_Comm_Forums

Answer 3

In Power BI's column profiling, the counts for distinct and unique values typically do not include null values. The distinct count refers to the number of different values present in the column, while the unique count refers to values that appear only once. Nulls are generally considered as non-values and are not counted in these metrics. Therefore, if your profiling shows distinct and unique counts that include nulls, it may be due to how the data is being interpreted or displayed in your specific scenario.

For your table, it seems that the counts are showing some discrepancies, and it would be advisable to verify the data types and ensure that nulls are being handled correctly in your profiling setup.

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References:

• Using the data profiling tools
• Understanding profiling results