Changes to the Language

Release 5.0.1

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The following changes have been applied to Wrangle in this release.

Release 5.0

Required type parameter

Prior to Release 5.0, the following was a valid Wrangle step:

derive value:colA + colB as:'colC'

Beginning in Release 5.0, the type parameter is required. This parameter defines whether the transform is a single or multi-row formula. In the Transform Builder, this value must be specified.

The following is valid in Release 5.0:

derive type:single value:colA + colB as:'colC'

See Derive Transform.

See Transform Builder.

Deprecated aggregate transform

In Release 4.2.1 and earlier, the aggregate transform could be used to aggregate your datasets using aggregation functions and groupings.

In Release 5.0 and later, this transform has been merged into the pivot transform. The aggregate transform has been deprecated and is no longer available.

NOTE: During upgrade to Release 5.0 and later, recipes that had previously used the aggregate transform are automatically migrated to use the pivot equivalent.

Example 1

Release 4.2.1 and earlier Aggregate:

aggregate value:AVERAGE(Scores)

Release 5.0 and later Pivot:

pivot value: AVERAGE(Score) limit: 1

The limit parameter defines the maximum number of columns that can be generated by the pivot.

Example 2

Aggregate:

aggregate value:AVERAGE(Scores) group:studentId

Pivot:

pivot group: StudentId value: AVERAGE(Score) limit: 1

For more information, see Pivot Transform.

New search terms

In the new Search panel, you can search for terms that can be used to select transformations for quick population of parameters. In the following table, you can see Wrangle how terminology has changed in Release 5.0 for some common transforms from earlier release.

Tip: You can paste the Release 5.0 terms in the Search panel to locate the same transformations used in earlier releases.

Release 4.2.1 and earlier transforms	Release 5.0 and later search terms
aggregate	pivot
keep	filter
delete	filter
extract on:	extractpatterns
extract at:	extractpositions
extract before:	extractbetweendelimiters
extract after:	extractbetweendelimiters
replace on:	replacepatterns
replace at:	replacepositions
replace before:	replacebetweenpatterns
replace after:	replacebetweenpatterns
replace from:	replacebetweenpatterns
replace to:	replacebetweenpatterns
split on:	splitpatterns
split delimiters:	splitpositions
split every:	splitpositions
split positions:	splitpositions
split after:	splitpatterns
split before:	splitpatterns
split from:	splitpatterns
split to:	splitpatterns

Support for <> operator

Prior to Release 5.0, the following operator was used to test "not equal" comparisons:

!=

Beginning in Release 5.0, the following operators is also supported:

<>

Example:

derive value:IF ((col1 <> col2), 'different','equal') as:'testNotEqual'

Tip: Both of the above operators are supported, although the <> operator is preferred.

For more information, see Comparison Operators.

ROUND function takes optional number of digits

The ROUND function now supports rounding to a specified number of digits. By default, values are rounded to the nearest integer, as before. See ROUND Function.

New Functions

Function Name	Description
DEGREES Function	Generates the value in degrees for an input radians value.
EXACT Function	Compares two strings to see if they are exact matches.
FILTEROBJECT Function	Filters the keys and values from an Object based on specified keys.
HOST Function	Returns the host value from a URL.
ISEVEN Function	Returns `true` if an Integer, function returning an Integer, or a column contains an even value.
ISODD Function	Returns `true` if an Integer, function returning an Integer, or a column contains an odd value.
KTHLARGESTUNIQUE Function	Computes the kth-ranked unique value in a set of values.
LCM Function	Returns the least common multiple between two input values.
MODE Function	Computes the mode (most common) value for a set of values.
MODEIF Function	Computes the mode based on a conditional test.
PAD Function	Pads the left or right side of a value with a specified character string.
PI Function	Generates the value for pi to 15 decimal places.
RADIANS Function	Generates the value in radians for an input degrees value.
RANDBETWEEN Function	Generates a random Integer in a range between two specified values.
RIGHTFIND Function	Locates a substring by searching from the right side of an input value.
ROLLINGCOUNTA Function	Computes count of non-null values across a rolling window within a column.
ROLLINGKTHLARGEST Function	Computes the kth largest value across a rolling window within a column.
ROLLINGKTHLARGESTUNIQUE Function	Computes the kth largest unique value across a rolling window within a column.
ROLLINGLIST Function	Computes list of all values across a rolling window within a column.
ROLLINGMAX Function	Computes maximum value across a rolling window within a column.
ROLLINGMIN Function	Computes minimum value across a rolling window within a column.
ROLLINGMODE Function	Computes mode (most common) value across a rolling window within a column.
ROLLINGSTDEV Function	Computes standard deviation across a rolling window within a column.
ROLLINGVAR Function	Computes variance across a rolling window within a column.
SIGN Function	Computes the positive or negative sign of an input value.
TRUNC Function	Truncates a value to the nearest integer or a specified number of digits.
URLPARAMS Function	Extracts any query parameters from a URL into an Object.
WEEKNUM Function	Calculates the week that the date appears during the year (1-52).

Release 4.2.1

None.

Release 4.2

New Filter transform

Perform a variety of predefined row filtrations using the new filter transform, or apply your own custom formula to keep or delete rows from your dataset.

See Remove Data.
See Filter Transform.

New Case transform

Beginning in Release 4.2, you can use the Transform Builder to simplify the construction of CASE statements. For each case, specify the conditional and resulting expression in separate textboxes.

See Apply Conditional Transformations.
See Case Transform.

Rename transform now supports multi-column rename

Use the rename transform to rename multiple columns in a single transform.

See Rename Columns.
See Rename Transform.

Drop specified columns or drop the others

The drop transform now supports the option of dropping all columns except the ones specified in the transform. See Drop Transform.

New string comparison functions

Compare two strings using Latin collation settings. See below.

NOW function returns 24-hour time values

In Release 4.1.1 and earlier, the NOW function returned time values for the specified time zone in 12-hour time, which was confusing.

In Release 4.2 and later, this function returns values in 24-hour time.

New Transforms

Transform Name	Documentation
`case`	Case Transform
`filter`	Filter Transform

New Functions

Function Name	Documentation
`STRINGGREATERTHAN`	STRINGGREATERTHAN Function
`STRINGGREATERTHANEQUAL`	STRINGGREATERTHANEQUAL Function
`STRINGLESSTHAN`	STRINGLESSTHAN Function
`STRINGLESSTHANEQUAL`	STRINGLESSTHANEQUAL Function
`SUBSTITUTE`	SUBSTITUTE Function

Release 4.1

Standardization page and transform have been removed

For a number of releases, the Standardization page and its related transform have been available via feature flag, due to a number of issues.

NOTE: This feature was not typically enabled in Designer Cloud Enterprise Edition deployments.

This feature has been removed from the product altogether and will be replaced in the future by a more robust standardization and normalization capability.

Syntax Changes

New Transforms

Transform Name	Documentation	Notes
`comment`	Comment Transform	In previous releases, you could insert comments of the following format: // This is a comment. Beginning in Release 4.1, comments are supported by formal transform.

New Functions

Function Name	Documentation
`CASE`	CASE Function

Release 4.0.1

Map data type is now Object data type

The Map data type has been renamed to the Object data type. There are no changes to the behavior.

NOTE: This change is not reflected in the Release 4.0.1 PDF documentation.

Splitrows transform now permits specifying of quote escaping character

For text-based formats that format fields between quotes, you can specify the character that is used to signify the escaping of the quote character in the data. The quoteEscapeChar parameter identifies the character in the data the precedes quotes that are supposed to be part of the data, instead of the marker for a field. See Splitrows Transform.

Release 4.0

Script steps displayed in natural language

In Release 3.2.1 and earlier, the steps of your recipe were displayed in raw form of Wrangle, as in the following example:

split col: column1 on: ',' limit: 5 quote: '\"'

Beginning in Release 4.0, by default, recipe steps are displayed in a more natural form of language, so that you can read the intention of the step without having to understand the details of the underlying language syntax. In natural language format, the above step is rendered as the following:

Split column1 on ',' 5 times

Notes:

If you edit a natural language version of your step, you perform your edits in Wrangle.
If preferred, you can switch back to displaying in source Wrangle. In the data grid, click the Data Grid options button. Select Show Wrangle Script. See Data Grid Panel.
Recipe steps are listed in the product documentation in source Wrangle, so that you can copy and paste them into the Transform Builder as needed.

`set`, `derive`, and `window` transforms can now perform any type of computation

To support the above capabilities, the following changes appear in the language:

derive transform now supports window functions. See Derive Transform.
- See Window Functions.
set and window transforms now support aggregate functions.
- See Set Transform.
- See Window Transform.
- See Aggregate Functions.

Multi-column input support

set and settype transforms now support multiple input columns.
When working with multiple columns, set transform now accepts a placeholder variable in the formula.
See Set Transform.
See Settype Transform.

Syntax Changes

Terminology Changes

`rollingaverage` function accepts two windowing parameters.

In Release 3.2.1 and earlier, you could specify your window for computing the rolling average using a single parameter.

window value: ROLLINGAVG(POS_Sales, 3) order: Whse_Nbr

This single parameter determined the row offset after the current row. The above transform captures a window of values from the current row forward two rows for the rolling average value. There was no way to capture a window that included values that were both before and after the current row.

Beginning in Release 4.0, the function accepts an additional parameter, which enables computation across a before/after window. The following example computes the rolling average from two rows before and two rows after the current row:

window value: ROLLINGAVERAGE(POS_Sales, 3, 2) order: Whse_Nbr

Notes:

The function name has changed to ROLLINGAVERAGE.
The behavior of the first parameter has changed. It captures rows before the current one, instead of rows after the current one.
- The default values are -1 and 0, which capture all values from the current row back to the first row of the dataset.
During the upgrade process, transform steps using this function are automatically migrated to the new method of specification.
For more information, see ROLLINGAVERAGE Function.

Function Changes

The following name changes have been applied to existing functions to use more familiar names.

Old Function Name	New Function Name	Notes
`ROLLINGAVG`	`ROLLINGAVERAGE`

New Datetime functions

These functions generate date and timestamps at execution time:

Function Name	Description
`NOW`	See NOW Function.
`TODAY`	See TODAY Function.
`DATETIME`	See DATETIME Function.

New conditional functions

These functions are conditionals based on data validation against a column's data type:

Function Name	Description
`IFMISSING`	See IFMISSING Function.
`IFNULL`	See IFNULL Function.
`IFVALID`	See IFVALID Function.
`IFMISMATCHED`	See IFMISMATCHED Function.

These functions compute specific values based on conditionals:

Function Name	Description
`ANYIF`	See ANYIF Function.
`AVERAGEIF`	See AVERAGEIF Function.
`COUNTAIF`	See COUNTAIF Function.
`COUNTDISTINCTIF`	See COUNTDISTINCTIF Function.
`COUNTIF`	See COUNTIF Function.
`KTHLARGESTIF`	See KTHLARGESTIF Function.
`LISTIF`	See .LISTIF Function.
`MAXIF`	See MAXIF Function.
`MINIF`	See MINIF Function.
`STDEVIF`	See STDEVIF Function.
`SUMIF`	See SUMIF Function.
`VARIF`	See VARIF Function.

Other new functions

Function Name	Description
`COUNTA`	See COUNTA Function.
`ROLLINGSUM`	See ROLLINGSUM Function.
`ROWNUMBER`	See ROWNUMBER Function.
`SUFFIX`	See SUFFIX Function.
`STARTSWITH`	See STARTSWITH Function.
`ENDSWITH`	See ENDSWITH Function.

`set` transform no longer accepts `row` parameter

In Release 3.2.1 and earlier, the row parameter could be used to filter the rows in a dataset to which the set transform value is applied, as in the following example:

set col: results value: 'Outstanding!' row: (score == 100)

Beginning in Release 4.0, the row parameter has been removed. Instead, you can specify conditionals in the value parameter. During upgrade, the above transform step is converted to the following:

set col: results value: IF(score == 100, 'Outstanding!', '')

In addition to the standard IF function, you can apply any of the new conditional functions listed below.

For more information, see Set Transform.

Format string with # before 0 is no longer supported in the `NUMFORMAT` function

In Release 3.2.1, the NUMFORMAT function supported a format string of ##.#0 in the Javascript running environment. This string was not supported in the Photon running environment.

For Release 4.0 and later, this format string is no longer supported and must be changed.

NOTE: After you have upgraded to Release 4.0 or later, you must change references format strings with a # before 0 for the NUMFORMAT function to use a supported formatting string. See NUMFORMAT Function.

ARRAYUNIQUE function can now take a single column as input

In Release 3.2.1 and earlier, the ARRAYUNIQUE function required at least two functions to generate an output.

Beginning in Release 4.0, this function can accept a single array or column as input, generating an output array containing only the unique values in the source. See ARRAYUNIQUE Function.

Execution Changes

Ternary predicates evaluating to null return false expressions

Suppose you have the following function expression:

IF(NULL(),1,2)

In Release 3.2.1 and earlier, predicates that returned null values returned null for the entire expression. In this case, the expression returned a null value.

In Release 4.0 and later, this expression returns 2.

See IF Function.

Null values no longer automatically filtered in limiting transforms

In Release 3.2.1 and earlier, when filtering the set of rows using a recipe step, such as a keep or delete transform, any null values in the evaluated in the condition would result in the filtering being applied. Example:

delete row:invAge >=90

If invAge contained a null value for a row, the row was deleted.

NOTE: In Release 4.0 and later, null values used as inputs to filtering transforms do not result in the row being filtered. This is a change in behavior for null values.

For each of the transforms below, you can review how to retain the Release 3.2.1 and earlier behavior in Release 4.0 and later.

Delete transform:

Release 3.2.1 example:

delete row:invAge >=90

Release 4.0 example:

delete row:(invAge >=90 && invAge == null())

Keep transform:

Release 3.2.1 example:

keep row:POS_Sales < 100

Release 4.0 example:

keep row:(POS_Sales < 100 && POS_Sales != null())

IF transform:

Release 3.2.1 example:

derive value:IF(rating > 9.0, 'ok','retry') as:'status'

Release 4.0 example:

derive value:(IF(rating > 9.0, 'ok','retry') && rating != null()) as:'status'

Tip: Release 4.0 introduces a series of conditional functions that can streamline computation and action. These functions test conditionals based on type (e.g. IFNULL) or based on computation of an aggregate function (e.g. SUMIF). See New conditional functions above.

For more information:

Release 3.2.1

Syntax Changes

Terminology Changes

NOTE: Beginning in Release 3.2.1, values that are considered empty are now referred to as missing.

Function Changes

The following name changes have been applied to existing functions to use more familiar names.

Old Function Name	New Function Name	Notes
`MEAN`	`AVERAGE`
`CEIL`	`CEILING`
`DATEDIFF`	`DATEDIF`
`DAYOFWEEK`	`WEEKDAY`
`UPPERCASE`	`UPPER`
`LOWERCASE`	`LOWER`
`PROPERCASE`	`PROPER`
`LENGTH`	`LEN`
`ARRAYLENGTH`	`ARRAYLEN`
`CONCAT`	`ARRAYCONCAT`
`CROSS`	`ARRAYCROSS`
`INTERSECTION`	`ARRAYINTERSECT`
`KEYSET`	`KEYS`
`UNIQUE`	`ARRAYUNIQUE`
`ZIP`	`ARRAYZIP`
`EMPTY`	`ISMISSING`
`ISEMPTY`	`ISMISSING`	Removal of duplicate function name.
`MISMATCHED`	`ISMISMATCHED`
`VALID`	`ISVALID`
`WINDOWFILL`	`FILL`
`MODULO`	`MOD`

Execution Changes

Transforms that nest null values in arrays now write `null` literals on Photon

In Release 3.2 and earlier, when a transform step was nested a null value within an array, an empty string value was written in the Photon running environment.

In Release 3.2.1 and later, the value written for a nested null value in the array is the literal: null.

Suppose your data looks like the following:

text_col	empty_str_col	null_col
myText

where:

empty_str_col contains an empty string value.
null_col contains a null value

If you add the following recipe step:

nest col: text_col, empty_str_col, null_col into: array as: 'result'

In Release 3.1, the result was the following:

text_col	empty_str_col	null_col	result
myText			["myText", "", ""]

In Release 3.2.1, the result is the following:

text_col	empty_str_col	null_col	result
myText			["myText", "", null]

This change was made to align the behaviors of the Photon running environment with the JavaScript running environment.

Release 3.2

Syntax Changes

Transform Changes

multisplit transform has been deprecated. All multisplit capabilities are now supported by the split transform. See Split Transform.
pivot transform now supports multiple columns. See Pivot Transform.
unnest transform now requires the keys parameter, which was optional in previous releases. See Unnest Transform.
- To unnest arrays without specifying keys, use the flatten transform. See Flatten Transform.
arraylength and arraystomap now accept functions that return arrays as inputs to the function.
- See ARRAYLEN Function.
- See ARRAYSTOMAP Function.
domain and subdomain functions have been updated to reflect standard interpretations of domain and sub-domain values for URLs:
Release Example URL Domain Function Subdomain Function
Release 3.1.2 and earlier

www.exampl.e.org

exampl.e

www
Release 3.2 and later

www.exampl.e.org

e

www.exampl
- See DOMAIN Function.
- See SUBDOMAIN Function.
The following parameter values are no longer supported as special capture groups in the with parameter for the replace transform. These references in the with parameter do not work in the Photon and Hadoop running environments and are unlikely to work at scale in any other running environment:
```
$&
$`
$'
```

Parameter Changes

Applicable Transform(s)	Old Term	Notes
Extract Transform	`urlparam`	Removed from use in the `extract` transform. Use of this parameter in that transform prevented the use of other `extract` parameters. See Extract Transform.
Countpattern Transform	`quote`	Removed from use in the `countpattern` transform. Parameter was not being respected. See Countpattern Transform.
Extractkv Transform	`quote`	Remove from use in the `extractkv` transform. Parameter was not being used. See Extractkv Transform.
Extractlist Transform	`quote`	Parameter is now used exclusively for matching against delimiters. Parameter does not match against patterned values. See Extractlist Transform.
Split Transform and Extract Transform	`limit`	For these transforms, the `limit` parameter can no longer be used in conjunction with the following parameters: `positions`, `delimiters`, `at`, and `urlparam`. In previous releases, these combinations did not actually work, even though the transform step was consumed. Now, it generates an error.

Function Changes

More consistent results for DATEDIFF functions:

Prior to Release 3.2, the DATEDIFF function generated inconsistent results between the Pig and Javascript running environments for DayOfYear calculations.

Beginning in Release 3.2, the DATEDIFF function has been updated to generate more consistent results. See DATEDIF Function.

Alteryx Pattern Changes

Changes to alpha-numeric pattern:

The alpha-numeric Alteryx pattern now applies to a single character and does not match on underscores (_). Previously, it was applied to one or more alpha-numeric characters, as well as underscores.

NOTE: Beginning in Release 3.2, the alpha-numeric Alteryx pattern applies to a single character. If you used it in your recipes prior to Release 3.2, these references have been converted to regular expressions to support matching with multiple characters.

New alphanum-underscore pattern:

To support previous functionality, you can use the new alphanum-underscore pattern, which matches on a single alpha-numeric character or underscore.

For more information, see Text Matching.

RANGE function

The RANGE function now accepts negative start and stop values.

Deprecated Items

Aggregate Tool

In prior releases, you could build aggregation steps using a separate tool, which was available through the Transform Editor.

In Release 3.2, this tool has been replaced by building aggregate transforms in the Transform Builder. See Transform Builder.

Language Cheat Sheet

In prior releases, the Language Cheat Sheet was available through the User Profile menu. This menu option has been removed. Additional contextual documentation is available through the Transform Builder. See Transform Builder.

You can still access the Language Cheat Sheet by adding /docs to the base URL. For example:

http://www.example.com:3005/docs

NOTE: The above option is likely to be deprecated in a future release.

Send Feedback

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Changes to the Language

Release 5.0

Required type parameter

Deprecated aggregate transform

Example 1

Example 2

New search terms

Support for <> operator

ROUND function takes optional number of digits

New Functions

Release 4.2.1

Release 4.2

New Filter transform

New Case transform

Rename transform now supports multi-column rename

Drop specified columns or drop the others

New string comparison functions

NOW function returns 24-hour time values

New Transforms

New Functions

Release 4.1

Standardization page and transform have been removed

Syntax Changes

New Transforms

New Functions

Release 4.0.1

Map data type is now Object data type

Splitrows transform now permits specifying of quote escaping character

Release 4.0

Script steps displayed in natural language

set, derive, and window transforms can now perform any type of computation

Multi-column input support

Syntax Changes

Terminology Changes

rollingaverage function accepts two windowing parameters.

Function Changes

New Datetime functions

New conditional functions

Other new functions

set transform no longer accepts row parameter

Format string with # before 0 is no longer supported in the NUMFORMAT function

ARRAYUNIQUE function can now take a single column as input

Execution Changes

Ternary predicates evaluating to null return false expressions

Null values no longer automatically filtered in limiting transforms

Release 3.2.1

Syntax Changes

Terminology Changes

Function Changes

Execution Changes

Transforms that nest null values in arrays now write null literals on Photon

Release 3.2

Syntax Changes

Transform Changes

Parameter Changes

Function Changes

Alteryx Pattern Changes

RANGE function

Deprecated Items

Aggregate Tool

Language Cheat Sheet

`set`, `derive`, and `window` transforms can now perform any type of computation

`rollingaverage` function accepts two windowing parameters.

`set` transform no longer accepts `row` parameter

Format string with # before 0 is no longer supported in the `NUMFORMAT` function

Transforms that nest null values in arrays now write `null` literals on Photon