When cleaning data (for example cleaning scraped data), separating a property into several properties is a simple yet powerful feature.
Splitting text into properties is perfect to:
- Split full names into First Name and Last Name
- Split email addresses into name and domain
- Split multi values property into single-value properties
Step 1: Open the Split Property tool
Open the "Split Property" tool in the "Edit" menu.
The tool selects the items to process in this order:
- If you have selected items in your collection, it will process them
- If you have a filter or a full-text search term, it will process the filtered items
- Otherwise, it will process all your collection items
And select the property you want to split. Only text-based properties are available. Checkbox, Datetime, etc. properties are not available.
Step 2: Split Property options
Delimiter
Then, select the delimiter to use. Common delimiters are available:
- @ (at)
- Comma
- Semicolon
- Dot
- Tab
- Space
- @ (at)
Or you can write custom delimiter characters.
Notes
If you write a multi-characters delimiter, the whole "pattern" will be searched (and not each letter). If you need to split on multiple delimiters, run the Split Property tool once with a delimiter, and do it again for each delimiter.
Max Parts
The second option is "Max Parts". The "Split Property" process creates additional properties in your collection and keeps your source property unchanged.
With "Max parts", you decide how many new properties will be created to store the splitting parts. If you set a number too high, useless properties will be created.
Step 3: Preview and run
Like many cleaning and editing tools in Datablist, a preview step is shown before running the algorithm.
The preview screen shows the properties that will be created and a sample of the splitting algorithm on your first items.
If the results look good, click on "Split property" to run the algorithm on all your current items.
Examples
Split Full Names into First Name and Last Name
Some CRMs use Full Name, while others split it into First Name and Last Name. The result is a headache to consolidate your lead lists.
With Datablist Split Text tool, it's easy to convert your Full Name property into First Name and Last Name. Run the algorithm on your Full Name property and use a Space delimiter.
Split email addresses into name and domain
You can learn a lot on your leads with their email addresses. The email domain is a good example. Does it belong to a corporate website, an email provider, or a disposable email service? To clean your email list, getting the domain address is the first step.
Run the Split Text algorithm on your Email property with the @ delimiter.
Split multi values property into single-value properties
The Datablist tool to merge duplicate items merges conflicting data by combining texts into a single property.
Datablist Split Property algorithm is complementary to Datablist Duplicates Finder. To force a single value in a property (for email addresses, website URLs, etc.), run the algorithm with the same delimiter.
