Reliable Methods for Counting String Occurrences in Large Data Columns

Casper S. · 2025-03-04T11:49:26.106849+00:00

🤔 What's a bulletproof way of counting the occurence of a string in a column? I used to use Lookup Multiple Rows ... previously from a table that contained the unique values that can be found in the target column. However this falls apart with larger tables and fails with Cell data size exceeds limit (200kB)

To reliably count string occurrences in a column without hitting size limits, we recommend using the "Count Occurrences of Items" integration. This method is efficient for larger datasets and avoids the 200kB cell limit. Here's how to use it: 1. Input your column data 2. Set "Case-Insensitive?" if needed 3. Specify a separator (default is space) 4. Set a limit for top results (default 99) The integration will return an array of results, counting occurrences without size issues. If you need to process the data further, consider using the "write to table" feature to manage the results.

Sources: Manage cell data | Documentation | Clay University Count Occurrences of Items with Clay

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