FILTER function in Power BI - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This table shows products, their categories, and sales amounts.

Cell	Value
A1	Product
B1	Category
C1	Sales
A2	Apple
B2	Fruit
C2	100
A3	Banana
B3	Fruit
C3	150
A4	Carrot
B4	Vegetable
C4	80
A5	Broccoli
B5	Vegetable
C5	120

Formula Trace

FILTER(Table1, Table1[Category] = "Fruit")

Step 1: Table1[Category]

Step 2: Table1[Category] = "Fruit"

Step 3: FILTER(Table1, [TRUE, TRUE, FALSE, FALSE])

Cell Reference Map

    A        B          C
1 Product  Category   Sales
2 Apple    Fruit      100
3 Banana   Fruit      150
4 Carrot   Vegetable   80
5 Broccoli Vegetable  120

FILTER uses column B (Category) to check values.

The FILTER function checks the Category column (B2:B5) to find rows with 'Fruit'.

Result

    A        B        C
2 Apple    Fruit    100
3 Banana   Fruit    150

The FILTER function returns only the rows where Category is 'Fruit', showing Apple and Banana with their sales.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the FILTER function check in this example?

A It sums all sales values.

B It checks if Category equals 'Fruit'.

C It filters products with sales over 100.

D It changes the Category names.

Key Result

FILTER(table, condition) returns rows from the table where the condition is TRUE.