diff --git a/doc/release_notes.rst b/doc/release_notes.rst
index 7883db82..27f1751e 100644
--- a/doc/release_notes.rst
+++ b/doc/release_notes.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ Release Notes
 Upcoming Version
 ----------------
 
+* Add documentation about `LinearExpression.where` with `drop=True`. Add `BaseExpression.variable_names` property.
+
 **Features**
 
 *Inspect the solver after solving*
diff --git a/examples/creating-expressions.ipynb b/examples/creating-expressions.ipynb
index 370f3f74..cb41a2c6 100644
--- a/examples/creating-expressions.ipynb
+++ b/examples/creating-expressions.ipynb
@@ -321,10 +321,106 @@
    ]
   },
   {
-   "attachments": {},
    "cell_type": "markdown",
    "id": "29",
    "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "Sometimes `.where` may lead to a situation where some of the variables are completely masked"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "30",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "mask_a = xr.DataArray(False, coords=[time])\n",
+    "mask_b = xr.DataArray(time > 2, coords=[time])\n",
+    "\n",
+    "z = (x.where(mask_a) + y).where(mask_b)\n",
+    "z"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "31",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "In this example you can see that many of the elements of the LinearExpression are None. If you want to remove all the None terms, you can use `.where(.., drop=True)`"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "32",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "z = z.where(mask_b, drop=True)\n",
+    "z"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "33",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "That looks nicer!<br>"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "34",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "You may notice that the variable `x` is not used at all. The expression still contains two terms (one of them is unused) but it only has one variable `y`"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "35",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "z.nterm"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "36",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "z.variable_names"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "37",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "You can get rid of the unused term with `.simplify()`"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "38",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "z = z.simplify()\n",
+    "z.nterm"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "attachments": {},
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "39",
+   "metadata": {},
    "source": [
     "## Using `.shift` to shift the Variable along one dimension\n",
     "\n",
@@ -336,7 +432,7 @@
   {
    "cell_type": "code",
    "execution_count": null,
-   "id": "30",
+   "id": "40",
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
@@ -346,7 +442,7 @@
   {
    "attachments": {},
    "cell_type": "markdown",
-   "id": "31",
+   "id": "41",
    "metadata": {},
    "source": [
     "## Using `.groupby` to group by a key and apply operations on the groups\n",
@@ -359,7 +455,7 @@
   {
    "cell_type": "code",
    "execution_count": null,
-   "id": "32",
+   "id": "42",
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
@@ -370,7 +466,7 @@
   {
    "attachments": {},
    "cell_type": "markdown",
-   "id": "33",
+   "id": "43",
    "metadata": {},
    "source": [
     "## Using `.rolling` to perform a rolling operation\n",
@@ -383,7 +479,7 @@
   {
    "cell_type": "code",
    "execution_count": null,
-   "id": "34",
+   "id": "44",
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
diff --git a/linopy/expressions.py b/linopy/expressions.py
index 70c45732..31868234 100644
--- a/linopy/expressions.py
+++ b/linopy/expressions.py
@@ -1331,6 +1331,26 @@ def nterm(self) -> int:
         """
         return len(self.data._term)
 
+    @property
+    def variable_names(self) -> set[str]:
+        """
+        Get the names of the unique variables present in the expression.
+        """
+        if self.nterm == 0:
+            return set()
+
+        # Collect all unique labels from the expression (excluding -1)
+        all_labels = self.vars.values.ravel()
+        unique_labels = np.unique(all_labels[all_labels != -1])
+
+        if len(unique_labels) == 0:
+            return set()
+
+        # Batch lookup variable names for all labels
+        positions = self.model.variables.get_label_position(unique_labels)
+
+        return {p[0] for p in positions if p[0] is not None}
+
     @property
     def shape(self) -> tuple[int, ...]:
         """
diff --git a/test/test_linear_expression.py b/test/test_linear_expression.py
index e9535ad6..79a1029b 100644
--- a/test/test_linear_expression.py
+++ b/test/test_linear_expression.py
@@ -1856,6 +1856,61 @@ def test_constant_only_expression_mul_linexpr_with_vars_and_const(
     assert (result_rev.const == expected_const).all()
 
 
+def test_variable_names() -> None:
+    m = Model()
+    time = pd.Index(range(3), name="time")
+
+    a = m.add_variables(name="a", coords=[time])
+    b = m.add_variables(name="b", coords=[time])
+
+    expr = a + b
+    assert expr.nterm == 2
+    assert expr.variable_names == {"a", "b"}
+
+    mask = xr.DataArray(False, coords=[time])
+    expr = a + (b * 1).where(mask)
+    assert expr.nterm == 2
+    assert expr.variable_names == {"a"}
+
+    expr = (b * 1).where(mask)
+    assert expr.nterm == 1
+    assert expr.variable_names == set()
+
+    expr = LinearExpression.from_constant(model=m, constant=5)
+    assert expr.nterm == 0
+    assert expr.variable_names == set()
+
+    # Single variable expression
+    expr = 1 * a
+    assert expr.variable_names == {"a"}
+
+    # Repeated variable across terms (a + a)
+    expr = a + a
+    assert expr.variable_names == {"a"}
+
+
+def test_nterm() -> None:
+    m = Model()
+    time = pd.Index(range(3), name="time")
+    all_false = xr.DataArray(False, coords=[time])
+    not_0 = xr.DataArray([False, True, True], coords=[time])
+    not_1 = xr.DataArray([True, False, True], coords=[time])
+    not_2 = xr.DataArray([True, True, False], coords=[time])
+
+    a = m.add_variables(name="a", coords=[time])
+    b = m.add_variables(name="b", coords=[time])
+    c = m.add_variables(name="c", coords=[time])
+
+    expr = (a.where(not_0) + b.where(not_1) + c.where(not_2)).densify_terms()
+    assert expr.nterm == 3
+
+    expr = a + b.where(all_false)
+    assert expr.nterm == 2
+
+    expr = expr.simplify()
+    assert expr.nterm == 1
+
+
 class TestJoinParameter:
     @pytest.fixture
     def m2(self) -> Model:
diff --git a/test/test_quadratic_expression.py b/test/test_quadratic_expression.py
index 3e21a60f..de6e28d7 100644
--- a/test/test_quadratic_expression.py
+++ b/test/test_quadratic_expression.py
@@ -360,3 +360,11 @@ def test_power_of_three(x: Variable) -> None:
         x**3
     with pytest.raises(TypeError):
         (x * x) * (x * x)
+
+
+def test_variable_names(x: Variable, y: Variable) -> None:
+    expr = 2 * (x * x) + 3 * y + 1
+    assert expr.variable_names == {"x", "y"}
+
+    expr = 2 * (x * x) + 1
+    assert expr.variable_names == {"x"}