---
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. Typically, you would call this with 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

    - object **value** - Any number of values.

- Returns

    - object - The first non null argument.

## 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.
```