github.com/Ilhicas/nomad@v1.0.4-0.20210304152020-e86851182bc3/website/content/docs/job-specification/hcl2/functions/collection/coalesce.mdx (about) 1 --- 2 layout: docs 3 page_title: coalesce - Functions - Configuration Language 4 sidebar_title: coalesce 5 description: |- 6 The coalesce function takes any number of arguments and returns the 7 first one that isn't null nor empty. 8 --- 9 10 # `coalesce` Function 11 12 `coalesce` takes any number of arguments and returns the first one 13 that isn't null or an empty string. 14 15 ## Examples 16 17 ```shell-session 18 > coalesce("a", "b") 19 a 20 > coalesce("", "b") 21 b 22 > coalesce(1,2) 23 1 24 ``` 25 26 To perform the `coalesce` operation with a list of strings, use the `...` 27 symbol to expand the list as arguments: 28 29 ```shell-session 30 > coalesce(["", "b"]...) 31 b 32 ``` 33 34 ## Related Functions 35 36 - [`coalescelist`](/docs/job-specification/hcl2/functions/collection/coalescelist) performs a similar operation with 37 list arguments rather than individual arguments.