Power Query M Language Basics

Most courses covering power query focus on navigating menus in the graphical user interface and recording steps by pushing the available buttons. Although that is a quick way to get started in power query, knowing the fundamentals that will be covered in this course will help you better understand what those functions are doing and how they work, and then you will be able to create and modify the code in the queries to be more powerful and efficient than what could otherwise be achieved.

Throughout this course the following topics will be covered

• M language 101

• Lists

• Records

• Tables

• each _ and the Lambda function using =>

• if then else expressions

• try otherwise expressions

• let expressions

M Language 101 Topics:

• Background

• General Orientation

• Delimiters and Operators

• Primitive values

• Case Sensitivity

• Zero-based Index

• Spaces and line breaks

• Misc. Tips and Tricks

Lists in M Language Topics

• How Used in Power Query

• Syntax

• Lists of Lists

• Combining Lists

• Getting Data from Lists

• Sample List Functions

• Referencing Lists from Other Query Steps

Records in M Language Topics

• How Used in Power Query

• Syntax

• Lists of Records

• Combining Records

• Getting Data from Records

• Sample Record Functions

Tables in M Language Topics

• How Used in Power Query

• Syntax (#table, TableFromColumns, TableFromRows, TableFromRecords)

• Combining Tables

• Getting Data from Tables

• Sample Table Functions

• Blank Table Syntax

each _ and (x) =˃ (lambda function)

• Lambda Functions using =>

• each _ vs (x)=> x

• each _ Used in TableAddColumn

• each _ Used in TableGroup

• each _ Used in TableGroup

• each _ Used in TableTransformColumns

• each _ Used in TablePivot

• each without _

• Direct Argument Notation

if then else try otherwise

let expressions