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Computes the absolute value of a given numeric value. The value can be a Decimal or Integer literal or a reference to a column containing numeric values.

Column reference example:

abs(MyInteger)

Output: Returns the absolute value of each value found in the MyInteger column.

Numeric literal example:

(abs(MyInteger) == 5)

Output: Returns true if the absolute value of the entry in the MyInteger column is 5.

abs(numeric_value)

Argument	Required?	Data Type	Description
numeric_value	Y	string, decimal, or integer	Name of column or Decimal or Integer literal to apply to the function

numeric_value

Name of the column or numeric literal whose absolute value is to be computed.

Missing input values generate missing results.
Literal numeric values should not be quoted. Quoted values are treated as strings.
Multiple columns and wildcards are not supported.

Required?	Data Type	Example Value
Yes	String (column reference) or Integer or Decimal value	`-10.5`

Example - Basic ABS function

Source:

Your source data looks like the following, which measures coordinate distances from a fixed point on a grid:

X	Y
-2	4
-6.2	-2
0	-4.2
4	4
15	-0.05

Transform:

You can use the following transform to derive the absolute values of these columns, which now measure distance from the fixed point:

Results:

X	Y	distanceX	distanceY
-2	4	2	4
-6.2	-2	6.2	2
0	-4.2	0	4.2
4	4	4	4
15	-0.05	15	0.05

You can then use POW and SQRT functions to compute the total distance.