The Magic Fill function can be used to transform names, units or expressions into
their abbreviated forms.
In this example, the dataset to improve contains data
on people working for well-known national or international organizations. However, these
organizations full names are often long and less well-known as the corresponding acronym. So
in order to make the dataset easier to read, you will use the Magic Fill function to convert
the full names into their acronyms.
Procedure
-
Click the header of the organization column in order to
select it.
-
In the functions panel, type Magic fill and click the
result to display the options of the associated function.
-
In the Input 1 field, enter one of the values from the
organization column that you would like to transform,
World Wildlife Fund for example.
-
In the Output 1 field, enter the corresponding acronym:
WWF.
For the function to work, you need to enter at least two complete examples of the
transformation you want to apply. You can then add up to three other examples.
Examples can either be taken from your dataset, or made up. The more examples
you input, the more accurately the pattern will be identified by the
function.
-
Enter more before and after examples in the remaining fields:
-
Federal Bureau of Investigation as
Input 2 and FBI as
Output 2
-
International Court of Justice as
Input 3 and ICJ as
Output 3
-
World Trade Organization as Input
4 and WTO as Output
4
-
European Union as Input 5
and EU as Output 5
Based on these examples, the function will understand that it only has to
keep the first upper case letter of each word to transform full names into
the corresponding acronym.
-
Click Submit.
Results
A new column is created, where the transformation defined by your examples has been
applied to the rest of the organizations names. You can know recognize more easily which
organizations appear in the dataset.
