Functions and Operators

Functions and Operators (DML)

Basic Mathematical Operators

Operator

Description

+numeric

Returns numeric

–numeric

Returns negative value of numeric

numeric1 + numeric2

Sum of numeric1 and numeric2

numeric1 – numeric2

Difference of numeric1 and numeric2

numeric1 * numeric2

Product of numeric1 and numeric2

numeric1 / numeric2

Quotient (numeric1 divided by numeric2)

Mathematical Operator Precedence

  1. Parenthesization

  2. Multiplication and division

  3. Addition and subtraction

Comparison Operators

Operator

Description

=

Equals

<>

Not equals

>

Greater than

>=

Greater than or equal to

<

Less than

<=

Less than or equal to

BETWEEN x AND y

Is a value within a range

NOT BETWEEN x AND y

Is a value not within a range

IS NULL

Is a value that is null

IS NOT NULL

Is a value that is not null

NULLIF(x, y)

Compare expressions x and y. If different, return x. If they are the same, return null. For example, if a dataset uses ‘NA’ for null values, you can use this statement to return null using SELECT NULLIF(field_name,'NA').

IS TRUE

True if a value resolves to TRUE.

IS NOT TRUE

True if a value resolves to FALSE.

Mathematical Functions

Function

Description

ABS(x)

Returns the absolute value of x

CEIL(x)

Returns the smallest integer not less than the argument

DEGREES(x)

Converts radians to degrees

EXP(x)

Returns the value of e to the power of x

FLOOR(x)

Returns the largest integer not greater than the argument

LN(x)

Returns the natural logarithm of x

LOG(x)

Returns the natural logarithm of x

LOG10(x)

Returns the base-10 logarithm of the specified float expression x

MOD(x,y)

Returns the remainder of int x divided by int y

PI()

Returns the value of pi

POWER(x,y)

Returns the value of x raised to the power of y

RADIANS(x)

Converts degrees to radians

ROUND(x)

Rounds x to the nearest integer value, but does not change the data type. For example, the double value 4.1 rounds to the double value 4.

ROUND_TO_DIGIT (x,y)

Rounds x to y decimal places

SIGN(x)

Returns the sign of x as -1, 0, 1 if x is negative, zero, or positive

SQRT(x)

Returns the square root of x.

TRUNCATE(x,y)

Truncates x to y decimal places

Trigonometric Functions

Function

Description

ACOS(x)

Returns the arc cosine of x

ASIN(x)

Returns the arc sine of x

ATAN(x)

Returns the arc tangent of x

ATAN2(x,y)

Returns the arc tangent of x and y

COS(x)

Returns the cosine of x

COT(x)

Returns the cotangent of x

SIN(x)

Returns the sine of x

TAN(x)

Returns the tangent of x

Geometric Functions

Function

Description

DISTANCE_IN_METERS(fromLon, fromLat, toLon, toLat)

Calculates distance in meters between two WGS84 positions.

CONV_4326_900913_X(x)

Converts WGS84 latitude to WGS84 Web Mercator x coordinate.

CONV_4326_900913_Y(y)

Converts WGS84 longitude to WGS84 Web Mercator y coordinate.

String Functions

Function

Description

CHAR_LENGTH(str)

Returns the number of characters in a string

LENGTH(str)

Returns the length of a string in bytes

String functions only work with unencoded fields (ENCODING set tonone).

Pattern-matching Functions

Name

Example

Description

str LIKE pattern

'ab' LIKE 'ab'

Returns true if the string matches the pattern

str NOT LIKE pattern

'ab' NOT LIKE 'cd'

Returns true if the string does not match the pattern

str ILIKE pattern

'AB' ILIKE 'ab'

Case-insensitive LIKE

str REGEXP POSIX pattern

'^[a-z]+r$'

Lowercase string ending with r

REGEXP_LIKE ( str , POSIX pattern )

'^[hc]at'

cat or hat

Usage Notes

The following wildcard characters are supported by LIKE and ILIKE:

  • % matches any number of characters, including zero characters.

  • _ matches exactly one character.

Date/Time Functions

Function

Description

DATE_TRUNC(date_part, timestamp)

Truncates the timestamp to the specified date_part. DATE_TRUNC(week,...) starts on Monday (ISO), which is different than EXTRACT(dow,...), which starts on Sunday.

Example:

SELECT DATE_TRUNC(MINUTE, arr_timestamp) Arrival FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 10;

EXTRACT(date_part FROM timestamp)

Returns the specified date_part from timestamp.

Example:

SELECT EXTRACT(HOUR FROM arr_timestamp) Arrival_Hour FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 10;

INTERVAL 'count' date_part

Adds or Subtracts count date_part units from a timestamp. Note that 'count' is enclosed in single quotes.

Example:

SELECT arr_timestamp + INTERVAL '10' YEAR FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 10;

NOW()

Returns the current timestamp.

Example:

SELECT NOW() FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 1;

TIMESTAMPADD(date_part, count, timestamp | date)

Adds an interval of count date_part to timestamp or date and returns signed date_part units in the provided timestamp or date form.

Example:

SELECT TIMESTAMPADD(DAY, 14, arr_timestamp) Fortnight FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 10;

TIMESTAMPDIFF(date_part, timestamp1, timestamp2)

Subtracts timestamp1 from timestamp2 and returns the result in signed date_part units.

Example:

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE, arr_timestamp, dep_timestamp) Flight_Time FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 10;

DATEDIFF('date_part', date, date)

Returns the difference between two dates, calculated to the lowest level of the date_part you specify. For example, if you set the date_part as DAY, only the year, month, and day are used to calculate the result. Other fields, such as hour and minute, are ignored.

Example:

SELECT DATEDIFF('YEAR', plane_issue_date, now()) Years_In_Service FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 10;

DATEADD('date_part', interval, date | timestamp)

Returns a date after a specified time/date interval has been added.

Example:

SELECT DATEADD('MINUTE', 6000, dep_timestamp) Arrival_Estimate FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 10;

DATEPART('interval', date | timestamp)

Returns a specified part of a given date or timestamp as an integer value. Note that 'interval' must be enclosed in single quotes.

Example:

SELECT DATEPART('YEAR', plane_issue_date) Year_Issued FROM flights_2008_10k LIMIT 10;

Usage Notes

Supported date_part types:

DATE_TRUNC [YEAR, QUARTER, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, MILLISECOND, 
            MICROSECOND, NANOSECOND, MILLENNIUM, CENTURY, DECADE, WEEK, 
            QUARTERDAY]
EXTRACT    [YEAR, QUARTER, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, MILLISECOND, 
            MICROSECOND, NANOSECOND, DOW, ISODOW, DOY, EPOCH, QUARTERDAY, 
            WEEK, DATEEPOCH]
DATEDIFF   [YEAR, QUARTER, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, MILLISECOND, 
            MICROSECOND, NANOSECOND, WEEK]

Supported interval types:

DATEADD       [DECADE, YEAR, QUARTER, MONTH, WEEK, WEEKDAY, DAY, 
               HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, MILLISECOND, MICROSECOND, NANOSECOND]
TIMESTAMPADD  [YEAR, QUARTER, MONTH, WEEKDAY, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE,
               SECOND, MILLISECOND, MICROSECOND, NANOSECOND]
DATEPART      [YEAR, QUARTER, MONTH, DAYOFYEAR, QUARTERDAY, WEEKDAY, DAY, HOUR,
               MINUTE, SECOND, MILLISECOND, MICROSECOND, NANOSECOND]

Accepted Date, Time, and Timestamp Formats

Datatype

Formats

Examples

DATE

YYYY-MM-DD

2013-10-31

DATE

MM/DD/YYYY

10/31/2013

DATE

DD-MON-YY

31-Oct-13

DATE

DD/Mon/YYYY

31/Oct/2013

EPOCH

1383262225

TIME

HH:MM

23:49

TIME

HHMMSS

234901

TIME

HH:MM:SS

23:49:01

TIMESTAMP

DATE TIME

31-Oct-13 23:49:01

TIMESTAMP

DATETTIME

31-Oct-13T23:49:01

TIMESTAMP

DATE:TIME

11/31/2013:234901

TIMESTAMP

DATE TIME ZONE

31-Oct-13 11:30:25 -0800

TIMESTAMP

DATE HH.MM.SS PM

31-Oct-13 11.30.25pm

TIMESTAMP

DATE HH:MM:SS PM

31-Oct-13 11:30:25pm

TIMESTAMP

1383262225

Usage Notes

  • For two-digit years, years 69-99 are assumed to be previous century (for example, 1969), and 0-68 are assumed to be current century (for example, 2016).

  • For four-digit years, negative years (BC) are not supported.

  • Hours are expressed in 24-hour format.

  • When time components are separated by colons, you can write them as one or two digits.

  • Months are case insensitive. You can spell them out or abbreviate to three characters.

  • For timestamps, decimal seconds are ignored. Time zone offsets are written as +/-HHMM.

  • For timestamps, a numeric string is converted to +/- seconds since January 1, 1970. Supported timestamps range from -30610224000 (January 1, 1000) through 29379456000 (December 31, 2900).

  • On output, dates are formatted as YYYY-MM-DD. Times are formatted as HH:MM:SS.

  • Linux EPOCH values range from -30610224000 (1/1/1000) through 185542587100800 (1/1/5885487). Complete range in years: +/-5,883,517 around epoch.

Statistical and Aggregate Functions

Both double-precision (standard) and single-precision floating point statistical functions are provided. Single-precision functions run faster on GPUs but might cause overflow errors.

Double-precision FP Function

Single-precision FP Function

Description

AVG(x)

Returns the average value of x

COUNT()

Returns the count of the number of rows returned

COUNT(DISTINCT x)

Returns the count of distinct values of x

APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT(x, e)

Returns the approximate count of distinct values of x with defined expected error rate e

MAX(x)

Returns the maximum value of x

MIN(x)

Returns the minimum value of x

SINGLE_VALUE

Returns the input value if there is only one distinct value in the input; otherwise, the query fails.

SUM(x)

Returns the sum of the values of x

SAMPLE(x)

Returns one sample value from aggregated column x. For example, the following query returns population grouped by city, along with one value from the state column for each group:

Note: This was previously LAST_SAMPLE, which is now deprecated.

CORRELATION(x, y)

CORRELATION_FLOAT(x, y)

Alias of CORR. Returns the coefficient of correlation of a set of number pairs.

CORR(x, y)

CORR_FLOAT(x, y)

Returns the coefficient of correlation of a set of number pairs.

COVAR_POP(x, y)

COVAR_POP_FLOAT(x, y)

Returns the population covariance of a set of number pairs.

COVAR_SAMP(x, y)

COVAR_SAMP_FLOAT(x, y)

Returns the sample covariance of a set of number pairs.

STDDEV(x)

STDDEV_FLOAT(x)

Alias of STDDEV_SAMP. Returns sample standard deviation of the value.

STDDEV_POP(x)

STDDEV_POP_FLOAT(x)

Returns the population standard the standard deviation of the value.

STDDEV_SAMP(x)

STDDEV_SAMP_FLOAT(x)

Returns the sample standard deviation of the value.

VARIANCE(x)

VARIANCE_FLOAT(x)

Alias of VAR_SAMP. Returns the sample variance of the value.

VAR_POP(x)

VAR_POP_FLOAT(x)

Returns the population variance sample variance of the value.

VAR_SAMP(x)

VAR_SAMP_FLOAT(x)

Returns the sample variance of the value.

Usage Notes

  • COUNT(DISTINCT x), especially when used in conjunction with GROUP BY, can require a very large amount of memory to keep track of all distinct values in large tables with large cardinalities. To avoid this large overhead, use APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT.

  • APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT(x, e) gives an approximate count of the value x, based on an expected error rate defined in e. The error rate is an integer value from 1 to 100. The lower the value of e, the higher the precision, and the higher the memory cost. Select a value for e based on the level of precision required. On large tables with large cardinalities, consider using APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT when possible to preserve memory. When data cardinalities permit, OmniSci uses the precise implementation of COUNT(DISTINCT x) for APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT. Set the default error rate using the -hll-precision-bits configuration parameter.

  • Currently, OmniSci does not support grouping by non-dictionary-encoded strings. However, with the SAMPLE aggregate function, you can select non-dictionary-encoded strings that are presumed to be unique in a group. For example:

    SELECT user_name, SAMPLE(user_decription) FROM tweets GROUP BY user_name;

    If the aggregated column (user_description in the example above) is not unique within a group, SAMPLE selects a value that might be nondeterministic because of the parallel nature of OmniSci query execution.

User-Defined Functions

You can create your own C++ functions and use them in your SQL queries.

  • User-defined Functions (UDFs) require clang++ version 7 or higher.

  • UDFs currently allow any authenticated user to register and execute a runtime function. By default, runtime UDFs are globally disabled but can be enabled with the runtime flag enable-runtime-udf.

  1. Create your function and save it in a .cpp file; for example, /var/lib/omnisci/udf_myFunction.cpp.

  2. Add the UDF configuration flag to omnisci.conf. For example:

    udf = "/var/lib/omnisci/udf_myFunction.cpp"

  3. Use your function in a SQL query. For example:

    SELECT udf_myFunction FROM myTable

Sample User-Defined Function

This function, udf_diff.cpp, returns the difference of two values from a table.

#include 
#if defined(clang) && defined(CUDA) && defined(CUDA_ARCH) #define DEVICE device #else #define DEVICE #endif
#if defined(clang) && defined(CUDA) && defined(CUDA_ARCH) #define NEVER_INLINE #else #define NEVER_INLINE attribute((noinline)) #endif
#if defined(clang) && defined(CUDA) && defined(CUDA_ARCH) #define ALWAYS_INLINE #else #define ALWAYS_INLINE attribute((always_inline)) #endif
#define EXTENSION_NOINLINE extern "C" NEVER_INLINE DEVICE
EXTENSION_NOINLINE int32_t udf_diff(const int32_t x, const int32_t y) { return x - y; }

Code Commentary

Include the standard integer library, which supports the following datatypes:

  • bool

  • int8_t (cstdint), char

  • int16_t (cstdint), short

  • int32_t (cstdint), int

  • int64_t (cstdint), size_t

  • float

  • double

  • void

#include <cstdint>

The next four lines are boilerplate code that allows OmniSci to determine whether the server is running with GPUs. OmniSci chooses whether it should compile the function inline to achieve the best possible performance.

#if defined(clang) && defined(CUDA) && defined(CUDA_ARCH) #define DEVICE device #else #define DEVICE #endif
#if defined(clang) && defined(CUDA) && defined(CUDA_ARCH) #define NEVER_INLINE #else #define NEVER_INLINE attribute((noinline)) #endif
#if defined(clang) && defined(CUDA) && defined(CUDA_ARCH) #define ALWAYS_INLINE #else #define ALWAYS_INLINE attribute((always_inline)) #endif
#define EXTENSION_NOINLINE extern "C" NEVER_INLINE DEVICE

The next line is the actual user-defined function, which returns the difference between INTEGER values x and y.

EXTENSION_NOINLINE int32_t udf_diff(const int32_t x, const int32_t y) { return x - y; }

To run the udf_diff function, add this line to your /var/lib/omnisci/omnisci.conf file (in this example, the .cpp file is stored at /var/lib/omnisci/udf_diff.cpp):

udf = "/var/lib/omnisci/udf_diff.cpp"

Restart the OmniSci server.

Use your command from an OmniSci SQL client to query, for example, a table named myTable that contains the INTEGER columns myInt1 and myInt2.

SELECT udf_diff(myInt1, myInt2) FROM myTable LIMIT 1;

OmniSci returns the difference as an INTEGER value.

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