Repetitive Column Names are not renamed 1,2,3,4... consistently

Question

Hi All,

I am using Alteryx to reformat data into a nicer structure. The initial input has the same data column titles repeating ABCDABCDABCDABCD.....etc. As you know, Alteryx usually renames these columns as ABCD A2B2C2D2 A3B3C3D3 A4B4C4D4....etc. I rely on this sequence to "code" these columns and join them back with the data it is referring to. However, sometimes Alteryx is inconsistent with its renaming of duplicate columns. It may show, ABC3D, or A2B2C4D2, or A9B4C4D8... etc...

I notice the data figures are correctly placed, but just the column renaming is inconsistent.  This is troubling because I am using the same workflow for over 100 files (of the same structure) and the output data is sometimes not in the right place, but I never receive an error.

Is there a dynamic way to ensure Alteryx will rename duplicate columns names with a consistent 2,3,4,5,6,.... number on the end for each group of repeating columns?

Also to note, I am using a macro to process these files, so simply "rerunning" will not work.

Fake data set 2.xlsx

Tonya_Smith · Answer

We had another issue  reported recently that I think may be related, if I am understanding your issue correctly.

The renaming rules that Alteryx follows are detailed here: https://help.alteryx.com/20214/designer/input-data-tool#duplicate-column-names

Tonya_Smith · Answer

@shelbybradley  there is a dynamic patter used to rename duplicate fields and it was recently documented. I am looking for the documentation and will share it when I find it. It is not new, but it was not previously explained or documented.

MarqueeCrew · Answer

@shelbybradley ,

I've never experienced this renaming phenomenon.  Within a macro, I've renamed plenty of fields.  If you use a FIELD INFO tool after your INPUT DATA tool, you can "capture" the original naming of each column of data.  If you SELECT to limit the "information" to the names of the fields, you could apply your "renames" and create an input to use in a DYNAMIC RENAME.  If positionally, you know what the renames should be, you could skip that step.

Cheers,

Mark