---
title: "coalesce"
description: "This function, which accepts any number of arguments, evaluates each in order, and returns the first non-null argument."
---

# coalesce

> This function, which accepts any number of arguments, evaluates each in order, and returns the first non-null argument.

**This function is used by Ignition's Expression language.**

## Description

This function, which accepts any number of arguments, evaluates each in order, and returns the first non-null argument. A typical use case involves two arguments - the first being something dynamic, the second being a static value to use as a guard in case the dynamic value is null. The function itself detects its return type based on the type of the last argument.

## Syntax

`coalesce(value, [value, ...])`

### Parameters

| Type   | Parameter | Description                                |
|--------|-----------|--------------------------------------------|
| Object | `value`   | Any number of values to evaluate in order. |

### Returns

**Object** - The first non-null argument. If all arguments are null, the result is null.

## Examples

```python title="Code Snippet"
coalesce(null, "abc") //would return "abc"
```

```python title="Code Snippet"
coalesce("xyz", "abc") //would return "xyz"
```

```python title="Code Snippet"
coalesce({Root Container.MyDataSet}["ColumnName"], 0) //would return the value in the dataset if it isn't null, but 0 if it is null.
```