prevent "For each" block

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Posted on by SK-01091159-0

Hello,

For example, I read a item in a configuration list. The return value contains only one element with two or three columns.
If I now want to use a value from one of the columns in the return value, this is converted into a “For each” block. How can I prevent this?

Thank you for your great support

Stefan

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Michael E. Gernaey 48,732 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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prevent "For each" block

Hi @SK-01091159-0

Yes that is correct. Arrays themselves are accessible by the Ordinal position, properties are accessible by the name.

PStork wrote out a specific example but that is for SharePoint, since I wasn't sure what you are using (originally it wasnt' stated), I was generalizing across any JSON structure.

So exactly.

Many times people do not want to add a Condition to check the length (I prefer to do it just for error handling), but even if you have a condition and check, most people will add an Apply to each to iterate through

But if you know its just one record, then I just use the Ordinal as I save actions and time and money :-) against my quota

I hope that answers you and good job honestly on understanding it right away

Cheers

If these suggestions help resolve your issue, Please consider Marking the answer as such and also maybe a like.

Thank you!
Sincerely, Michael Gernaey

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Pstork1 67,916 Most Valuable Professional on at

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prevent "For each" block

If you want any record other than the first one or the last one then the index will work. If you are doing the equivalent of a Lookup where there is only one record then you can either use the Index or use First() or Last(). The index coding looks like this to get the first record.

outputs('Get_items')?['body/value'][0]?['Title']

The function coding looks like this

first(outputs('Get_items')?['body/value'])?['Title']

Either will work. Both require typing the JSON directly in the Expression field in the dynamic content.

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Paul Papanek Stork, MVP
Blog: https://www.dontpapanic.com/blog

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SK-01091159-0 12 on at

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prevent "For each" block

Thank you Paul and Michael for your great answer.

@Michael E. Gernaey

This sounds very interesting.

For instance, when you get the body/value property from a List Rows present in a table, or Get Items, and if it returned back 10 rows, you could access a row by [0] through [9] and then access a column from that

I have this small screenshot.

The action "Get items" returns only on item with columns (email, subject, ... ) . I have an object (email, subject, ... ). In the action "Variable" I want to write the return vaule from "Get items" into the object.

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Pstork1 67,916 Most Valuable Professional on at

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prevent "For each" block

If you know the name of the column you want to access you just need to use the First() function to isolate the first record and then add ?['columnname'] to the end of the function. You'll need to use the expressions tab in the dynamic content bar to enter the JSON, but it will keep the system from adding the For Each loop.

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If this Post helped you, please click "Does this answer your question" and give it a like to help others in the community find the answer too!

Paul Papanek Stork, MVP
Blog: https://www.dontpapanic.com/blog

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Michael E. Gernaey 48,732 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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prevent "For each" block

Hi @SK-01091159-0

Please share what it looks like.

The only reason an Apply to each runs (or For Each) is when there is an array

Having 3 columns would not cause that, unless you are talking about an array of columns

Having more than 1 row with 3 columns would.

As an example, grabbing a row from Excel or SharePoint can have 10000 columns but it would not cause an Apply to each

If you please share an example of the data (not just one line but the actual configuration of the data) then I can happily tell you.

You would need either to know exactly which Row to grab the data from so you can use the Ordinal Position.

For instance, when you get the body/value property from a List Rows present in a table, or Get Items, and if it returned back 10 rows, you could access a row by [0] through [9] and then access a column from that

But if your columns are themselves an array in your data, then that changes it

So once I see it and you give an example of what column can help you quickly.

If these suggestions help resolve your issue, Please consider Marking the answer as such and also maybe a like.

Thank you!
Sincerely, Michael Gernaey

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