Quick tip: use [brackets] to reference columns with special characters

Showcase & Tips
1

It’s been a while since my last post! :waving_hand:

I’ll come back with something really simple. I don’t know if everyone already knows this, but here’s a really quick tip for referencing something in a formula.

When you reference a column with the dot operator (Table.Column), Coda autocompletes the name as you type. But if the column name has special characters like -, &, or /, autocomplete gets lost when you type one of them. The reference breaks, and you end up with a partial name or plain text.

The fix: wrap the name in square brackets [ ]. That makes Coda read the whole name as one reference:

Projects.[Budget - Q4].Sum()    // dash
Projects.[R&D / Notes]          // & and /
thisRow.[Budget - Q4]           // works with thisRow too

column_ref

That’s it. Brackets save you from retyping the reference or renaming your columns just to get the formula to work. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I put together a small doc with a table that has different column name formats, so you can try it yourself: Tip: Referencing columns with special characters

Best,

Felipe Arnhold from SimplaDocs

1 Like
2

some time ago, this was shared with less detail:

1 Like