Text functions

CONCATENATE

Use the '+' (plus) operator to concatenate strings or a combination of strings and other type values to produce a single string value.

Syntax

string1 + string2 + ... + value1 + ...

string1 - The first string that you want to concatenate.
string2 - The second string that you want to concatenate.
value1 - A value of some type of number, date or boolean that you want to add to the new string value.

Return type

string

Examples

Expression	Result	Type
12 + " kilometers"	"12 kilometers"	String
"This statement is " + TRUE + "."	"This statement is true."	String
"I was born on " + Me.birthDateAndTime + "."	"I was born on Tue Dec 01 23:00:45 CET 1970."	String
( UPPERCASE "hello" ) + ( LOWERCASE " WORLD" )	"HELLO world"	String
UPPERCASE( "hello" ) + LOWERCASE( " WORLD" )	"HELLO WORLD"	String

Note the correct use of parenthesis in combination with concatenation, see UPPERCASE and LOWERCASE syntax.

There exists a STR_CONCAT ( string , string ) function in the expression language. As it can only concatenate two strings, and is much longer in typing, we advise to use above way for concatenating strings.

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JOIN

This function joins a series of values into one string, separated with a character of your choice.

Syntax

JOIN ( argument1 , argument2 , ... , separator )

argument1, argument2 - Attributes or expressions that contain the values that will be joint to a single string. JOIN works for all base types, even multivalued.
separator - A string value that will be used as separator symbol.

Return type

string

an UNKNOWN value will be represented as an empty entry in the result string.

The CONCAT function is identical to the JOIN function.

Examples

Suppose you have a model containing the following attributes.

Attribute	Basetype	Value
Person.name	string	"John"
Person.date_of_birth	date	01-01-1995
Person.family_name	string

Expression	Result	Type
JOIN ( Person.name , Person.date_of_birth , ";" )	"John;Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 CET 1995"	String
JOIN ( Person.name , Person.name , "@" )	"John@John"	String
JOIN ( Person.name , Person.family_name , YEARS BETWEEN Person.date_of_birth AND DATE ( 2015 , 01 , 01 ) , ";" )	"John;;20"	String

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MATCH

The MATCH function compares a string pattern to another string and returns TRUE if the string exactly matches the pattern, and otherwise FALSE. The MATCH function is case-sensitive.

Syntax

MATCH ( pattern , string )

pattern - An attribute of base type string or a string value. String must be a valid regular expression. The regular expressions used in several Blueriq Studio functions are common Java 1.4 expressions. For a complete documentation we refer to the online java documentation.
string - String value, attribute of base type string or an expression that results in a string value.

Return type

boolean

Examples

Entity.attribute	Value	Type
File.name	"Thisfile_1.doc"	String

Expression	Result	Type
MATCH ( "Thisfile_1.doc" , File.name )	TRUE	Boolean
MATCH ( File.name , "Thisfile_1.doc" )	TRUE	Boolean
MATCH ( " Thisfile_1.doc" , File.name )	FALSE	Boolean
MATCH ( "thisfile_1.doc" , File.name )	FALSE	Boolean
MATCH ( "[A-Z]hisfile_1.doc" , File.name )	TRUE	Boolean
MATCH ( "[a-z]hisfile_1.doc" , File.name )	FALSE	Boolean
MATCH ( "Thisfile_[0-9].doc" , File.name )	TRUE	Boolean
MATCH ( ".............." , File.name )	TRUE	Boolean
MATCH ( ".*" , File.name )	TRUE	Boolean
MATCH ( "" , "" )	Error	"**" is not a valid regular expression

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FIND

The FIND function looks for a string pattern within another string and returns the first matching characters. The function is case-sensitive.

Syntax

FIND ( pattern , string )
FIND ( pattern , string , startIndex )

pattern - An attribute of base type string or a string value. String must be a valid regular expression. The regular expressions used in several Blueriq Studio functions are common Java 1.4 expressions. For a complete documentation we refer to the online java documentation.
string - An attribute of base type string or an expression that results in a string.
startIndex - A positive integer value indicating at which character of the string the search should start (inclusive). This can be either an attribute of base type integer, an expression that results in an integer or a constant integer value. The first character starts at index 0.

Return type

string

Examples

Entity.attribute	Value	Type
File.name	"Thisfile_1.doc"	String

Expression	Result	Type
FIND ( "_[1-5]" , File.name )	"_1"	String
FIND ( "File" , File.name )	UNKNOWN	String
FIND ( "el" , "Hello" )	"el"	String
FIND ( "el" , "Hello" , 2 )	UNKNOWN	String
FIND ( "eo" , "Hello" )	UNKNOWN	String
FIND ( "\s[a-zA-Z]+" , "Hello world example" )	"world"	String
FIND ( "\s[a-zA-Z]+" , "Hello world example" , 6 )	"example"	String

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FIRST

FIRST returns the first character(s) of a string, based on the number of characters you specify.

Syntax

FIRST integer CHARACTERS OF string
FIRST CHARACTER OF string

integer - A positive integer value. This can be either an attribute of base type integer, an expression that results in an integer or a constant integer value. FIRST CHARACTER OF can be used to retrieve only the first character of the string.
string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

Return type

string

If you prefer a functional syntax, you can use the STR_FRONT( string, integer ) function. Example: STR_FRONT("Blueriq", 3) = "Blu"

Examples

Entity.attribute	Value	Type
File.name	"Thisfile_1.doc"	String
File.prefix	8	Integer

Expression	Alternative syntax	Result	Type
FIRST File.prefix CHARACTERS OF File.name	STR_FRONT( File.name , File.prefix )	Thisfile	String
FIRST CHARACTER OF File.name	STR_FRONT( File.name , 1 )	T	String
FIRST 5 CHARACTERS OF "pieceofcake"	STR_FRONT( "pieceofcake" , 5 )	piece	String

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LAST

LAST returns the last character(s) of a string, based on the number of characters you specify.

Syntax

LAST integer CHARACTERS OF string
LAST CHARACTER OF string

integer - A positive integer value. This can be either an attribute of base type integer, an expression that results in an integer or a constant integer value. LAST CHARACTER OF can be used to retrieve only the last character of the string.
string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

Return type

string

If you prefer a functional syntax, you can use the STR_BACK ( string, integer ) function. Example: STR_BACK("Blueriq", 3) = "riq"

Examples

Entity.attribute	Value	Type
File.name	"Thisfile_1.doc"	String
File.extension	3	Integer

Expression	Alternative syntax	Result	Type
LAST File.extension CHARACTERS OF File.name	STR_BACK( File.name , File.extension )	"doc"	String
LAST CHARACTER OF File.name	STR_BACK( File.name , 1 )	"c"	String
LAST 4 CHARACTERS OF "pieceofcake"	STR_BACK( "pieceofcake" , 4 )	"cake"	String

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LENGTH

LENGTH returns the length of a string

Syntax

LENGTH ( string )

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

Return type

integer

Spaces at the start of the end of the string are counted as well, the string is not trimmed.

Example

Expression	Result	Type
LENGTH ( "Blueriq" )	7	Integer
LENGTH ( " Blueriq " )	9	Integer
LENGTH ( ? )	?	Integer

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UPPERCASE

UPPERCASE returns a string with all characters in uppercase

Syntax

UPPERCASE string

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

UPPERCASE does not have a functional syntax. This can have unexpected effects on concatenation. UPPERCASE ( "hello" ) + LOWERCASE ( " WORLD" ) is equivalent to UPPERCASE ( ( "hello" ) + LOWERCASE ( " WORLD" ) ). Use ( UPPERCASE string ) syntax to avoid this behaviour.

Return type

string

Example

Expression	Result	Type
UPPERCASE ( "hello" )	"HELLO"	String
UPPERCASE "WORLD"	"WORLD"	String
UPPERCASE ( "hello world " )	"HELLO WORLD "	String
UPPERCASE " hELLo "	" HELLO "	String
UPPERCASE ( ? )	?	String
( UPPERCASE "hello" ) + ( LOWERCASE " WORLD" )	"HELLO world"	String
UPPERCASE ( "hello" ) + LOWERCASE ( " WORLD" )	"HELLO WORLD"	String

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LOWERCASE

LOWERCASE returns a string with all characters in lowercase

Syntax

LOWERCASE string

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

LOWERCASE does not have a functional syntax. This can have unexpected effects on concatenation. LOWERCASE ( "HELLO" ) + UPPERCASE ( " world" ) is equivalent to LOWERCASE ( ( "HELLO" ) + UPPERCASE ( " world" ) ). Use ( LOWERCASE string ) syntax to avoid this behaviour.

Return type

string

Example

Expression	Result	Type
LOWERCASE ( "hello" )	"hello"	String
LOWERCASE "WORLD"	"world"	String
LOWERCASE ( "hello world " )	"hello world "	String
LOWERCASE " hELLo "	" hello "	String
LOWERCASE ( ? )	?	String
( LOWERCASE "HELLO" ) + ( UPPERCASE " world" )	"hello WORLD"	String
LOWERCASE ( "HELLO" ) + UPPERCASE ( " world" )	"hello world"	String

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CAPITALIZE

CAPITALIZE returns a string with the first character uppercased

Syntax

CAPITALIZE string
CAPITALIZE ( string, lowerTheRest )

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
lowerTheRest - An attribute of base type boolean, an expression that results in a boolean or a constant boolean value, indicating that the other characters need to be lowercased. This parameter is optional and if it is not supplied, the other characters are left untouched.

Return type

string

Example

Expression	Result	Type
CAPITALIZE "hello"	"Hello"	String
CAPITALIZE ( "WORLD" )	"WORLD"	String
CAPITALIZE ( "hello world " )	"Hello world "	String
CAPITALIZE " hELLo "	" hELLo "	String
CAPITALIZE TRIM " hELLo "	"HELLo"	String
CAPITALIZE TRIM LOWERCASE " hELLo "	"Hello"	String
CAPITALIZE ( "hello" , TRUE )	"Hello"	String
CAPITALIZE ( "WORLD" , TRUE )	"World"	String
CAPITALIZE ( "hello world " , TRUE )	"Hello world "	String
CAPITALIZE ( " hELLo " , TRUE )	" hello "	String
CAPITALIZE ( TRIM " hELLo " , TRUE )	"Hello"	String
CAPITALIZE( ? )	?	String

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TRIM

TRIM strips the leading and trailing spaces from a string

Syntax

TRIM string

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

Return type

string

Example

Expression	Result	Type
TRIM "Hello"	"Hello"	String
TRIM ( "Hello World" )	"Hello World"	String
TRIM " Hello World "	"Hello World"	String
TRIM ( ? )	?	String

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INDEXOF

INDEXOF returns the index of the first occurrence of a specified substring in a string.

Syntax

INDEXOF ( string , substring )
INDEXOF ( string , substring , startIndex )

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
substring - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
startIndex - A (positive) integer value indicating at which character the search for the substring should start (inclusive). This can be either an attribute of base type integer, an expression that results in an integer or a constant integer value.
The first character starts at index 0.

Return type

integer - the index of the first occurrence of the specified substring or -1 if it is not found

Example

Expression	Result	Type
INDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" )	4	Integer
INDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" , 5 )	7	Integer
INDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "a" )	-1	Integer
INDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" , 8 )	-1	Integer
INDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" , -12 )	4	Integer
INDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" , 50 )	-1	Integer

There is no restriction on the value of startIndex. If it is negative, it has the same effect as if it were zero: this entire string may be searched. If it is greater than the length of this string, it has the same effect as if it were equal to the length of this string: -1 is returned.

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LASTINDEXOF

LASTINDEXOF returns the index of the last occurrence of a specified substring in a string

Syntax

LASTINDEXOF ( string , substring )
LASTINDEXOF ( string , substring , startIndex )

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
substring - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
startIndex - A (positive) integer value indicating at which character the search for the substring should start (inclusive), searching backwards. This can be either an attribute of base type integer, an expression that results in an integer or a constant integer value.

Return type

integer - the index of the last occurrence of the specified substring or -1 if it is not found

Example

Expression	Result	Type
LASTINDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" )	7	Integer
LASTINDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" , 6 )	4	Integer
LASTINDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "a" )	-1	Integer
LASTINDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" , 3 )	-1	Integer
LASTINDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" , -12 )	-1	Integer
LASTINDEXOF ( "Hello world" , "o" , 50 )	7	Integer

There is no restriction on the value of startIndex. If it is negative, it has the same effect as if it were zero: -1 is returned since there are no characters before character 0. If startIndex is greater than the length of this string, it has the same effect as if it were equal to the length of this string, so the whole string is searched.

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SUBSTRING

SUBSTRING returns the substring of a given string starting from the index provided and ending at the end index if provided, or the end of the string

Syntax

SUBSTRING ( string , startIndex )
SUBSTRING ( string , startIndex , endIndex )

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
startIndex - A positive integer value indicating at which character the substring should start (inclusive). This can be either an attribute of base type integer, an expression that results in an integer or a constant integer value. The first character starts at index 0.
endIndex - A positive integer value indicating at which character the substring should end (exclusive). This can be either an attribute of base type integer, an expression that results in an integer or a constant integer value. The endIndex cannot exceed the length of the string and should be larger than the startIndex.

Return type

string

Example

Expression	Result	Type
SUBSTRING ( "Hello world" , 1 )	"ello world"	String
SUBSTRING ( "Hello world" , 0 , 1 )	"H"	String
SUBSTRING ( "Hello world" , 1 , 5 )	"ello"	String
SUBSTRING ( "Hello world" , 0 )	"Hello world"	String
SUBSTRING ( "Hello world" , 0 , LENGTH( "Hello world" ) )	"Hello world"	String

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SUBSTRING BEFORE

SUBSTRING_BEFORE returns the start of a given string before the first occurrence of substring, or an empty string if substring is not found

Syntax

SUBSTRING BEFORE substring IN string
SUBSTRING_BEFORE ( string , substring )

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
substring - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

Return type

string

Example

Expression	Result	Type
SUBSTRING BEFORE ":" IN "hello:world"	"hello"	String
SUBSTRING_BEFORE ( "hello:world" , ":" )	"hello"	String
SUBSTRING_BEFORE ( "hello:world:all" , ":" )	"hello"	String
SUBSTRING_BEFORE ( "hello:world" , "h" )	""	String
SUBSTRING BEFORE "a" IN "hello:world"	""	String
SUBSTRING_BEFORE ( "" , "hello" )	""	String
SUBSTRING_BEFORE ( "hello" , "" )	""	String

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SUBSTRING AFTER

SUBSTRING_AFTER returns the end of a given string after the first occurrence of substring, or an empty string if substring is not found

Syntax

SUBSTRING AFTER substring IN string
SUBSTRING_AFTER ( string , substring )

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
substring - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

Return type

string

Example

Expression	Result	Type
SUBSTRING AFTER ":" IN "hello:world"	"world"	String
SUBSTRING_AFTER ( "hello:world:all" , ":" )	"world:all"	String
SUBSTRING AFTER "a" IN "hello:world"	""	String
SUBSTRING_AFTER ( "" , "hello" )	""	String
SUBSTRING_AFTER ( "hello" , "" )	"hello"	String

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SPLIT

SPLIT returns a multivalued attribute containing every substring that is delimited by the given pattern

Syntax

SPLIT string ON pattern
SPLIT ( string , pattern )

string - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
pattern - An attribute of base type string or a string value. String must be a valid regular expression. The regular expressions used in several Blueriq Studio functions are common Java 1.4 expressions. For a complete documentation we refer to the online java documentation.

Return type

string (multivalued)

Example

Expression	Result	Type
SPLIT "Hello world" ON "o"	[ "Hell" , " w" , "rld" ]	String (multivalued)
SPLIT ( "Hello world" , "a" )	[ "Hello world" ]	String (multivalued)
SPLIT "Hello" ON "o"	[ "Hell" ]	String (multivalued)
SPLIT ( "ooo" , "o" )	[ ]	String (multivalued)
SPLIT ( "bot" , "o" )	[ "b" , "t" ]	String (multivalued)
SPLIT ( "boot" , "o" )	[ "b" , "", "t" ]	String (multivalued)
SPLIT ( "booot" , "o" )	[ "b" , `"",` "t" ]	String (multivalued)
To remove dots from a string in combination with the JOIN function:
JOIN ( SPLIT ( "H.E.L.L.O" , "\.") , "" )	"HELLO"	String

If you use the SPLIT in a default expression on an multivalued attribute, please note that the result will be stored as collection, meaning that all duplicates will be removed. To illustrate this: suppose we have an attribute Test.Splitted (multivalued), which has the default expression SPLIT ( "H.E.L.L.O" , "\."). The result of the expression JOIN ( Test.Splitted , "" ) = "HELO" instead of "HELLO" as in the last example.

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REPLACE

The REPLACE function replaces every occurrence of a string pattern within another string with a provided replacement string. The function is case-sensitive.

Syntax

REPLACE pattern IN string WITH replacement
REPLACE ( pattern , string , replacement )

pattern - An attribute of base type string or a string value. String must be a valid regular expression. The regular expressions used in several Blueriq Studio functions are common Java 1.4 expressions. For a complete documentation we refer to the online java documentation.
string - An attribute of base type string or an expression that results in a string.
replacement - An attribute of base type string or an expression that results in a string.

Return type

string. If the pattern is not found, the original string is returned.

Examples

Expression	Result	Type
REPLACE ":" IN "hello:world:example" WITH " "	"hello world example"	String
REPLACE ( "o" , "hello world" , "a" )	"hella warld"	String
REPLACE ( "O" , "hello world" , "a" )	"hello world"	String
REPLACE "\s" IN "hello world example" WITH ""	"helloworldexample"	String
REPLACE ( "\d{2}" , "hello1 world22 example333" , "@" )	"hello1 world@ example@3"	String
REPLACE ( "" , "hello world" , " " )	" h e l l o w o r l d "	String
REPLACE "\s" IN "hello world example" WITH "\s"	"hello\sworld\sexample"	String

The first argument is a pattern (regular expression) and can therefore contain specials like \s for a space. The second and third arguments are strings or expressions, so \s will result in \s.

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EQUALS

EQUALS compares two strings and returns TRUE if and only if they are equal. This function is case sensitive.

Only use this function if you need a case sensitive comparison of two strings. If you want to compare strings case insensitive, use the '=' operator instead.

Syntax

string1 EQUALS string2
EQUALS ( string1 , string2 )

string1 - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.
string2 - An attribute of base type string, an expression that results in a string or a constant string value.

Return type

boolean

Example

Expression	Result	Type	Note
"hello" EQUALS "hello"	TRUE	Boolean
EQUALS ( "hello" , "Hello" )	FALSE	Boolean	FALSE because EQUALS is case sensitive
"hello" EQUALS "hello "	FALSE	Boolean	FALSE because of trailing space
EQUALS ( "" , "" )	TRUE	Boolean

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CONCATENATE

JOIN

MATCH

FIND

FIRST

LAST

LENGTH

UPPERCASE

LOWERCASE

CAPITALIZE

TRIM

INDEXOF

LASTINDEXOF

SUBSTRING

SUBSTRING BEFORE

SUBSTRING AFTER

SPLIT

REPLACE

EQUALS