NEXT Function

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Extracts the value from a column that is a specified number of rows after the current value.

The row from which to extract a value is determined by the order in which the rows are organized at the time that the transform is executed. If you are working on a randomly generated sample of your dataset, the values that you see for this function might not correspond to the values that are generated on the full dataset during job execution.
If the next value is missing or null, this function generates a missing value.
You can use the group and order parameters to define the groups of records and the order of those records to which this transform is applied.
This function works with the following transforms:

Basic Usage

window value:NEXT(myNumber, 1) order:Date

Output: Generates the new column, which contains the value in the row in the myNumber column immediately after the current row when the dataset is ordered by Date.

Syntax and Arguments

window value:NEXT(col_ref, k_integer) order: order_col [group: group_col]

Argument	Required?	Data Type	Description
col_ref	Y	string	Name of column whose values are applied to the function
k_integer	Y	integer (positive)	Number of rows after the current one from which to extract the value

For more information on the order and group parameters, see Window Transform.

For more information on syntax standards, see Language Documentation Syntax Notes.

col_ref

Name of the column whose values are used to extract the value that is k-integer values after the current one.

Multiple columns and wildcards are not supported.

Usage Notes:

Required?	Data Type	Example Value
Yes	String (column reference)	`myColumn`

k_integer

Integer representing the number of rows after the current one from which to extract the value.

Value must be a positive integer. For negative values, see PREV Function.
k=1 represents the immediately following row value.
If k is greater than or equal to the number of values in the column, all values in the generated column are missing. If a group parameter is applied, then this parameter should be no more than the maximum number of rows in the groups.
If the range provided to the function exceeds the limits of the dataset, then the function generates a null value.
If the range of the function is valid but includes missing values, the function generates a missing, non-null value.

Usage Notes:

Required?	Data Type	Example Value
Yes	Integer	`4`

Examples

Tip: For additional examples, see Common Tasks.

Example - Examine prior order history

The following dataset contains order information for the preceding 12 months. You want to compare the current month's average against the preceding quarter.

Source:

Date	Amount
12/31/15	118
11/30/15	6
10/31/15	443
9/30/15	785
8/31/15	77
7/31/15	606
6/30/15	421
5/31/15	763
4/30/15	305
3/31/15	824
2/28/15	135
1/31/15	523

Transform:

Using the ROLLINGAVERAGE function, you can generate a column containing the rolling average of the current month and the two previous months:

window value: ROLLINGAVERAGE(Amount, 3, 0) order: -Date

Note the sign of the second parameter and the order parameter. The sort is in the reverse order of the Date parameter, which preserves the current sort order. As a result, the second parameter, which identifies the number of rows to use in the calculation, must be positive to capture the previous months.

Technically, this computation does not capture the prior quarter, since it includes the current quarter as part of the computation. You can use the following column to capture the rolling average of the preceding month, which then becomes the true rolling average for the prior quarter. The window column refers to the name of the column generated from the previous step:

window value: NEXT(window, 1) order: -Date

Note that the order parameter must be preserved. This new column, window1, contains your prior quarter rolling average:

rename col:window1 to:'Amount_PriorQtr'

You can reformat this numeric value:

set col:Amount_PriorQtr value:NUMFORMAT(Amount_PriorQtr, '###.00')

You can use the following transform to calculate the net change. This formula computes the change as a percentage of the prior quarter and then formats it as a two-digit percentage.

derive type:single value:NUMFORMAT(((Amount - Amount_PriorQtr) / Amount_PriorQtr) * 100, '##.##') as:'NetChangePct_PriorQtr'

Results:

NOTE: You might notice that there are computed values for Amount_PriorQtr for February and March. These values do not factor in a full three months because the data is not present. The January value does not exist since there is no data preceding it.

Date	Amount	Amount_PriorQtr	NetChangePct_PriorQtr
12/31/15	118	411.33	-71.31
11/30/15	6	435.00	-98.62
10/31/15	443	489.33	-9.47
9/30/15	785	368.00	113.32
8/31/15	77	596.67	-87.1
7/31/15	606	496.33	22.1
6/30/15	421	630.67	-33.25
5/31/15	763	421.33	81.09
4/30/15	305	494.00	-38.26
3/31/15	824	329.00	150.46
2/28/15	135	523.00	-.74.19
1/31/15	523

See Also for NEXT Function:

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