# Nth value of an array **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [July 15, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/nth-value-of-an-array/29131 "2021-07-15T15:17:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Josiah\_Abshear](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/josiah_abshear/32/29072_2.png) [@Josiah\_Abshear](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Josiah_Abshear)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/nth-value-of-an-array/29131/1 "2021-07-15T15:17:16Z")
Is there any way to extract just the first value from an array column within glide tables? Relations manipulation is no good because I do not have anything to match it with. I just want to set a column equal to the first value within the array. Is this feasible? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/nth-value-of-an-array/29131/2 "2021-07-15T15:31:17Z")
Is it an array from a lookup column, or how is the array created? If it’s an array that’s generated from multiple rows, then you can try a single value column that points to the relation. ---
**Author:** ![Uzo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/uzo/32/22639_2.png) [@Uzo](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Uzo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2021, 3:33pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/nth-value-of-an-array/29131/3 "2021-07-15T15:33:48Z")
single value column…? maybe, set to first ---
**Author:** ![Josiah\_Abshear](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/josiah_abshear/32/29072_2.png) [@Josiah\_Abshear](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Josiah_Abshear)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/nth-value-of-an-array/29131/4 "2021-07-15T15:37:24Z")
My use case is that I have 1 customer with several upcoming order dates and I need to display his most upcoming one. I would usually just use a rollup function except his orders are all in the same row instead of columns ☹ So I made a matrix of if, the, else columns to extract the earliest one. The problem is that this that the if, then, else function is tacking on a timestamp to the date of 12:00AM and I don’t want to display this to the user. So I can use split text to separate the date from the time but now can’t figure out how to remove the time all together. ---
**Author:** ![Uzo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/uzo/32/22639_2.png) [@Uzo](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Uzo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/nth-value-of-an-array/29131/5 "2021-07-15T15:38:53Z")
hey… relax… just do rollup column with latest result… and never do separate entry in same row… create a sheet for each entry… redo your structure… you will be happy later ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/nth-value-of-an-array/29131/6 "2021-07-15T15:41:22Z")
Ok. You can’t pull out individual array items from a split text. Instead I would create a template column that “locks in” the formatting of the date. Then your IF matrix should pull out the formatted version as long as it grabs the template instead. ---
**Author:** ![NoCodeAndy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/nocodeandy/32/62530_2.png) [@NoCodeAndy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/NoCodeAndy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/nth-value-of-an-array/29131/7 "2024-01-17T16:51:22Z")