ES|QL functions and operatorsedit

ES|QL provides a comprehensive set of functions and operators for working with data. The reference documentation is divided into the following categories:

Functions overviewedit

Aggregate functions
Math functions
String functions
Date and time functions
Type conversion functions
Conditional functions and expressions
Multi value functions

ES|QL aggregate functionsedit

The STATS ... BY function supports these aggregate functions:

AVGedit

Syntax

AVG(expression)
expression
Numeric expression.

Description

The average of a numeric expression.

Supported types

The result is always a double no matter the input type.

Examples

FROM employees
| STATS AVG(height)
AVG(height):double

1.7682

The expression can use inline functions. For example, to calculate the average over a multivalued column, first use MV_AVG to average the multiple values per row, and use the result with the AVG function:

FROM employees
| STATS avg_salary_change = AVG(MV_AVG(salary_change))
avg_salary_change:double

1.3904535864978902

COUNTedit

Syntax

COUNT([expression])

Parameters

expression
Expression that outputs values to be counted. If omitted, equivalent to COUNT(*) (the number of rows).

Description

Returns the total number (count) of input values.

Supported types

Can take any field type as input.

Examples

FROM employees
| STATS COUNT(height)
COUNT(height):long

100

To count the number of rows, use COUNT() or COUNT(*):

FROM employees
| STATS count = COUNT(*) BY languages
| SORT languages DESC
count:long languages:integer

10

null

21

5

18

4

17

3

19

2

15

1

The expression can use inline functions. This example splits a string into multiple values using the SPLIT function and counts the values:

ROW words="foo;bar;baz;qux;quux;foo"
| STATS word_count = COUNT(SPLIT(words, ";"))
word_count:long

6

COUNT_DISTINCTedit

Syntax

COUNT_DISTINCT(expression[, precision_threshold])

Parameters

expression
Expression that outputs the values on which to perform a distinct count.
precision_threshold
Precision threshold. Refer to Counts are approximate. The maximum supported value is 40000. Thresholds above this number will have the same effect as a threshold of 40000. The default value is 3000.

Description

Returns the approximate number of distinct values.

Supported types

Can take any field type as input.

Examples

FROM hosts
| STATS COUNT_DISTINCT(ip0), COUNT_DISTINCT(ip1)
COUNT_DISTINCT(ip0):long COUNT_DISTINCT(ip1):long

7

8

With the optional second parameter to configure the precision threshold:

FROM hosts
| STATS COUNT_DISTINCT(ip0, 80000), COUNT_DISTINCT(ip1, 5)
COUNT_DISTINCT(ip0, 80000):long COUNT_DISTINCT(ip1, 5):long

7

9

The expression can use inline functions. This example splits a string into multiple values using the SPLIT function and counts the unique values:

ROW words="foo;bar;baz;qux;quux;foo"
| STATS distinct_word_count = COUNT_DISTINCT(SPLIT(words, ";"))
distinct_word_count:long

5

Counts are approximateedit

Computing exact counts requires loading values into a set and returning its size. This doesn’t scale when working on high-cardinality sets and/or large values as the required memory usage and the need to communicate those per-shard sets between nodes would utilize too many resources of the cluster.

This COUNT_DISTINCT function is based on the HyperLogLog++ algorithm, which counts based on the hashes of the values with some interesting properties:

  • configurable precision, which decides on how to trade memory for accuracy,
  • excellent accuracy on low-cardinality sets,
  • fixed memory usage: no matter if there are tens or billions of unique values, memory usage only depends on the configured precision.

For a precision threshold of c, the implementation that we are using requires about c * 8 bytes.

The following chart shows how the error varies before and after the threshold:

cardinality error

For all 3 thresholds, counts have been accurate up to the configured threshold. Although not guaranteed, this is likely to be the case. Accuracy in practice depends on the dataset in question. In general, most datasets show consistently good accuracy. Also note that even with a threshold as low as 100, the error remains very low (1-6% as seen in the above graph) even when counting millions of items.

The HyperLogLog++ algorithm depends on the leading zeros of hashed values, the exact distributions of hashes in a dataset can affect the accuracy of the cardinality.

The COUNT_DISTINCT function takes an optional second parameter to configure the precision threshold. The precision_threshold options allows to trade memory for accuracy, and defines a unique count below which counts are expected to be close to accurate. Above this value, counts might become a bit more fuzzy. The maximum supported value is 40000, thresholds above this number will have the same effect as a threshold of 40000. The default value is 3000.

MAXedit

Syntax

MAX(expression)

Parameters

expression
Expression from which to return the maximum value.

Description

Returns the maximum value of a numeric expression.

Example

FROM employees
| STATS MAX(languages)
MAX(languages):integer

5

The expression can use inline functions. For example, to calculate the maximum over an average of a multivalued column, use MV_AVG to first average the multiple values per row, and use the result with the MAX function:

FROM employees
| STATS max_avg_salary_change = MAX(MV_AVG(salary_change))
max_avg_salary_change:double

13.75

MEDIANedit

Syntax

MEDIAN(expression)

Parameters

expression
Expression from which to return the median value.

Description

Returns the value that is greater than half of all values and less than half of all values, also known as the 50% PERCENTILE.

Like PERCENTILE, MEDIAN is usually approximate.

MEDIAN is also non-deterministic. This means you can get slightly different results using the same data.

Example

FROM employees
| STATS MEDIAN(salary), PERCENTILE(salary, 50)
MEDIAN(salary):double PERCENTILE(salary, 50):double

47003

47003

The expression can use inline functions. For example, to calculate the median of the maximum values of a multivalued column, first use MV_MAX to get the maximum value per row, and use the result with the MEDIAN function:

FROM employees
| STATS median_max_salary_change = MEDIAN(MV_MAX(salary_change))
median_max_salary_change:double

7.69

MEDIAN_ABSOLUTE_DEVIATIONedit

Syntax

MEDIAN_ABSOLUTE_DEVIATION(expression)

Parameters

expression
Expression from which to return the median absolute deviation.

Description

Returns the median absolute deviation, a measure of variability. It is a robust statistic, meaning that it is useful for describing data that may have outliers, or may not be normally distributed. For such data it can be more descriptive than standard deviation.

It is calculated as the median of each data point’s deviation from the median of the entire sample. That is, for a random variable X, the median absolute deviation is median(|median(X) - X|).

Like PERCENTILE, MEDIAN_ABSOLUTE_DEVIATION is usually approximate.

MEDIAN_ABSOLUTE_DEVIATION is also non-deterministic. This means you can get slightly different results using the same data.

Example

FROM employees
| STATS MEDIAN(salary), MEDIAN_ABSOLUTE_DEVIATION(salary)
MEDIAN(salary):double MEDIAN_ABSOLUTE_DEVIATION(salary):double

47003

10096.5

The expression can use inline functions. For example, to calculate the the median absolute deviation of the maximum values of a multivalued column, first use MV_MAX to get the maximum value per row, and use the result with the MEDIAN_ABSOLUTE_DEVIATION function:

FROM employees
| STATS m_a_d_max_salary_change = MEDIAN_ABSOLUTE_DEVIATION(MV_MAX(salary_change))
m_a_d_max_salary_change:double

5.69

MINedit

Syntax

MIN(expression)

Parameters

expression
Expression from which to return the minimum value.

Description

Returns the minimum value of a numeric expression.

Example

FROM employees
| STATS MIN(languages)
MIN(languages):integer

1

The expression can use inline functions. For example, to calculate the minimum over an average of a multivalued column, use MV_AVG to first average the multiple values per row, and use the result with the MIN function:

FROM employees
| STATS min_avg_salary_change = MIN(MV_AVG(salary_change))
min_avg_salary_change:double

-8.46

PERCENTILEedit

Syntax

PERCENTILE(expression, percentile)

Parameters

expression
Expression from which to return a percentile.
percentile
A constant numeric expression.

Description

Returns the value at which a certain percentage of observed values occur. For example, the 95th percentile is the value which is greater than 95% of the observed values and the 50th percentile is the MEDIAN.

Example

FROM employees
| STATS p0 = PERCENTILE(salary,  0)
     , p50 = PERCENTILE(salary, 50)
     , p99 = PERCENTILE(salary, 99)
p0:double p50:double p99:double

25324

47003

74970.29

The expression can use inline functions. For example, to calculate a percentile of the maximum values of a multivalued column, first use MV_MAX to get the maximum value per row, and use the result with the PERCENTILE function:

FROM employees
| STATS p80_max_salary_change = PERCENTILE(MV_MAX(salary_change), 80)
p80_max_salary_change:double

12.132

PERCENTILE is (usually) approximateedit

There are many different algorithms to calculate percentiles. The naive implementation simply stores all the values in a sorted array. To find the 50th percentile, you simply find the value that is at my_array[count(my_array) * 0.5].

Clearly, the naive implementation does not scale — the sorted array grows linearly with the number of values in your dataset. To calculate percentiles across potentially billions of values in an Elasticsearch cluster, approximate percentiles are calculated.

The algorithm used by the percentile metric is called TDigest (introduced by Ted Dunning in Computing Accurate Quantiles using T-Digests).

When using this metric, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind:

  • Accuracy is proportional to q(1-q). This means that extreme percentiles (e.g. 99%) are more accurate than less extreme percentiles, such as the median
  • For small sets of values, percentiles are highly accurate (and potentially 100% accurate if the data is small enough).
  • As the quantity of values in a bucket grows, the algorithm begins to approximate the percentiles. It is effectively trading accuracy for memory savings. The exact level of inaccuracy is difficult to generalize, since it depends on your data distribution and volume of data being aggregated

The following chart shows the relative error on a uniform distribution depending on the number of collected values and the requested percentile:

percentiles error

It shows how precision is better for extreme percentiles. The reason why error diminishes for large number of values is that the law of large numbers makes the distribution of values more and more uniform and the t-digest tree can do a better job at summarizing it. It would not be the case on more skewed distributions.

PERCENTILE is also non-deterministic. This means you can get slightly different results using the same data.

ST_CENTROIDedit

Calculate the spatial centroid over a field with spatial point geometry type.

FROM airports
| STATS centroid=ST_CENTROID(location)
centroid:geo_point

POINT(-0.030548143003023033 24.37553649504829)

Supported types:

v result

geo_point

geo_point

cartesian_point

cartesian_point

SUMedit

Syntax

SUM(expression)
expression
Numeric expression.

Description

Returns the sum of a numeric expression.

Example

FROM employees
| STATS SUM(languages)
SUM(languages):long

281

The expression can use inline functions. For example, to calculate the sum of each employee’s maximum salary changes, apply the MV_MAX function to each row and then sum the results:

FROM employees
| STATS total_salary_changes = SUM(MV_MAX(salary_change))
total_salary_changes:double

446.75

ES|QL mathematical functionsedit

ES|QL supports these mathematical functions:

ABSedit

Syntax

ABS(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the absolute value.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

integer

long

long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

Examples

ROW number = -1.0
| EVAL abs_number = ABS(number)
number:double abs_number:double

-1.0

1.0

FROM employees
| KEEP first_name, last_name, height
| EVAL abs_height = ABS(0.0 - height)
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword height:double abs_height:double

Alejandro

McAlpine

1.48

1.48

Amabile

Gomatam

2.09

2.09

Anneke

Preusig

1.56

1.56

ACOSedit

Syntax

ACOS(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the arccosine of n as an angle, expressed in radians.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=.9
| EVAL acos=ACOS(a)
a:double acos:double

.9

0.45102681179626236

ASINedit

Syntax

ASIN(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the arcsine of the input numeric expression as an angle, expressed in radians.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=.9
| EVAL asin=ASIN(a)
a:double asin:double

.9

1.1197695149986342

ATANedit

Syntax

ATAN(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the arctangent of the input numeric expression as an angle, expressed in radians.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=12.9
| EVAL atan=ATAN(a)
a:double atan:double

12.9

1.4934316673669235

ATAN2edit

Syntax

ATAN2(y,x)

Parameters

y
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.
x
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

The angle between the positive x-axis and the ray from the origin to the point (x , y) in the Cartesian plane, expressed in radians.

Supported types

y x result

double

double

double

double

integer

double

double

long

double

double

unsigned_long

double

integer

double

double

integer

integer

double

integer

long

double

integer

unsigned_long

double

long

double

double

long

integer

double

long

long

double

long

unsigned_long

double

unsigned_long

double

double

unsigned_long

integer

double

unsigned_long

long

double

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW y=12.9, x=.6
| EVAL atan2=ATAN2(y, x)
y:double x:double atan2:double

12.9

0.6

1.5243181954438936

CEILedit

Syntax

CEIL(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Round a number up to the nearest integer.

This is a noop for long (including unsigned) and integer. For double this picks the closest double value to the integer similar to Math.ceil.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

integer

long

long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

Example

ROW a=1.8
| EVAL a=CEIL(a)
a:double

2

COSedit

Syntax

COS(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the cosine of n. Input expected in radians.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=1.8
| EVAL cos=COS(a)
a:double cos:double

1.8

-0.2272020946930871

COSHedit

Syntax

COSH(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the hyperbolic cosine.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=1.8
| EVAL cosh=COSH(a)
a:double cosh:double

1.8

3.1074731763172667

Eedit

Syntax

E()

Description

Returns Euler’s number.

Example

ROW E()
E():double

2.718281828459045

FLOORedit

Syntax

FLOOR(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Rounds a number down to the nearest integer.

This is a noop for long (including unsigned) and integer. For double this picks the closest double value to the integer similar to Math.floor.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

integer

long

long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

Example

ROW a=1.8
| EVAL a=FLOOR(a)
a:double

1

LOGedit

Syntax

LOG([base,] value)

Parameters

base
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null. The base is an optional input parameter. If a base is not provided, this function returns the natural logarithm (base e) of a value.
value
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the logarithm of a value to a base. The input can be any numeric value, the return value is always a double.

Logs of zero, negative numbers, infinites and base of one return null as well as a warning.

Supported types

base value result

double

double

double

double

integer

double

double

long

double

double

unsigned_long

double

integer

double

double

integer

integer

double

integer

long

double

integer

unsigned_long

double

long

double

double

long

integer

double

long

long

double

long

unsigned_long

double

unsigned_long

double

double

unsigned_long

integer

double

unsigned_long

long

double

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW base = 2.0, value = 8.0
| EVAL s = LOG(base, value)
base: double value: double s:double

2.0

8.0

3.0

row value = 100
| EVAL s = LOG(value);
value: integer s:double

100

4.605170185988092

LOG10edit

Syntax

LOG10(n)
n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the logarithm to base 10. The input can be any numeric value, the return value is always a double.

Logs of 0, negative numbers, and infinites return null as well as a warning.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW d = 1000.0
| EVAL s = LOG10(d)
d: double s:double

1000.0

3.0

PIedit

Syntax

PI()

Description

Returns the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

Example

ROW PI()
PI():double

3.141592653589793

POWedit

Syntax

POW(base,exponent)

Parameters

base
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.
exponent
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the value of base raised to the power of exponent. Both arguments must be numeric. The output is always a double. Note that it is still possible to overflow a double result here; in that case, null will be returned.

Supported types

base exponent result

double

double

double

double

integer

double

double

long

double

double

unsigned_long

double

integer

double

double

integer

integer

double

integer

long

double

integer

unsigned_long

double

long

double

double

long

integer

double

long

long

double

long

unsigned_long

double

unsigned_long

double

double

unsigned_long

integer

double

unsigned_long

long

double

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

double

Examples

ROW base = 2.0, exponent = 2
| EVAL result = POW(base, exponent)
base:double exponent:integer result:double

2.0

2

4.0

The exponent can be a fraction, which is similar to performing a root. For example, the exponent of 0.5 will give the square root of the base:

ROW base = 4, exponent = 0.5
| EVAL s = POW(base, exponent)
base:integer exponent:double s:double

4

0.5

2.0

ROUNDedit

Syntax

ROUND(value,decimals)

Parameters

value
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.
decimals
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Rounds a number to the closest number with the specified number of digits. Defaults to 0 digits if no number of digits is provided. If the specified number of digits is negative, rounds to the number of digits left of the decimal point.

Supported types

value decimals result

double

integer

double

Example

FROM employees
| KEEP first_name, last_name, height
| EVAL height_ft = ROUND(height * 3.281, 1)
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword height:double height_ft:double

Arumugam

Ossenbruggen

2.1

6.9

Kwee

Schusler

2.1

6.9

Saniya

Kalloufi

2.1

6.9

SINedit

Syntax

SIN(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Sine trigonometric function. Input expected in radians.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=1.8
| EVAL sin=SIN(a)
a:double sin:double

1.8

0.9738476308781951

SINHedit

Syntax

SINH(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Sine hyperbolic function.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=1.8
| EVAL sinh=SINH(a)
a:double sinh:double

1.8

2.94217428809568

SQRTedit

Syntax

SQRT(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the square root of a number. The input can be any numeric value, the return value is always a double.

Square roots of negative numbers are NaN. Square roots of infinites are infinite.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW d = 100.0
| EVAL s = SQRT(d)
d: double s:double

100.0

10.0

TANedit

Syntax

TAN(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Tangent trigonometric function. Input expected in radians.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=1.8
| EVAL tan=TAN(a)
a:double tan:double

1.8

-4.286261674628062

TANHedit

Syntax

TANH(n)

Parameters

n
Numeric expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Tangent hyperbolic function.

Supported types

n result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=1.8
| EVAL tanh=TANH(a)
a:double tanh:double

1.8

0.9468060128462683

TAUedit

Syntax

TAU()

Description

Returns the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its radius.

Example

ROW TAU()
TAU():double

6.283185307179586

ES|QL string functionsedit

ES|QL supports these string functions:

CONCATedit

Syntax

CONCAT(string1, string2[, ..., stringN])

Parameters

stringX
Strings to concatenate.

Description

Concatenates two or more strings.

Example

FROM employees
| KEEP first_name, last_name
| EVAL fullname = CONCAT(first_name, " ", last_name)
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword fullname:keyword

Alejandro

McAlpine

Alejandro McAlpine

Amabile

Gomatam

Amabile Gomatam

Anneke

Preusig

Anneke Preusig

LEFTedit

Syntax

LEFT(str,length)

Parameters

str
The string from which to return a substring.
length
The number of characters to return.

Description

Returns the substring that extracts length chars from str starting from the left.

Supported types

str length result

keyword

integer

keyword

text

integer

keyword

Example

FROM employees
| KEEP last_name
| EVAL left = LEFT(last_name, 3)
| SORT last_name ASC
| LIMIT 5
last_name:keyword left:keyword

Awdeh

Awd

Azuma

Azu

Baek

Bae

Bamford

Bam

Bernatsky

Ber

LENGTHedit

Syntax

LENGTH(str)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns the character length of a string.

Example

FROM employees
| KEEP first_name, last_name
| EVAL fn_length = LENGTH(first_name)
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword fn_length:integer

Alejandro

McAlpine

9

Amabile

Gomatam

7

Anneke

Preusig

6

LTRIMedit

Syntax

LTRIM(str)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Removes leading whitespaces from strings.

Supported types

str result

keyword

keyword

text

text

Example

ROW message = "   some text  ",  color = " red "
| EVAL message = LTRIM(message)
| EVAL color = LTRIM(color)
| EVAL message = CONCAT("'", message, "'")
| EVAL color = CONCAT("'", color, "'")
message:keyword color:keyword

'some text '

'red '

REPLACEedit

Syntax

REPLACE(str,regex,newStr)

Parameters

str
String expression.
regex
Regular expression.
newStr
Replacement string.

Description

The function substitutes in the string str any match of the regular expression regex with the replacement string newStr.

If any of the arguments is null, the result is null.

Supported types

str regex newStr result

keyword

keyword

keyword

keyword

keyword

keyword

text

keyword

keyword

text

keyword

keyword

keyword

text

text

keyword

text

keyword

keyword

keyword

text

keyword

text

keyword

text

text

keyword

keyword

text

text

text

keyword

Example

This example replaces any occurrence of the word "World" with the word "Universe":

ROW str = "Hello World"
| EVAL str = REPLACE(str, "World", "Universe")
| KEEP str
str:keyword

Hello Universe

RIGHTedit

Syntax

RIGHT(str,length)

Parameters

str
The string from which to returns a substring.
length
The number of characters to return.

Description

Return the substring that extracts length chars from str starting from the right.

Supported types

str length result

keyword

integer

keyword

text

integer

keyword

Example

FROM employees
| KEEP last_name
| EVAL right = RIGHT(last_name, 3)
| SORT last_name ASC
| LIMIT 5
last_name:keyword right:keyword

Awdeh

deh

Azuma

uma

Baek

aek

Bamford

ord

Bernatsky

sky

RTRIMedit

Syntax

RTRIM(str)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Removes trailing whitespaces from strings.

Supported types

str result

keyword

keyword

text

text

Example

ROW message = "   some text  ",  color = " red "
| EVAL message = RTRIM(message)
| EVAL color = RTRIM(color)
| EVAL message = CONCAT("'", message, "'")
| EVAL color = CONCAT("'", color, "'")
message:keyword color:keyword

' some text'

' red'

SPLITedit

SPLIT(str,delim)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.
delim
Delimiter. Only single byte delimiters are currently supported.

Description

Splits a single valued string into multiple strings.

Supported types

str delim result

keyword

keyword

keyword

text

text

keyword

Example

ROW words="foo;bar;baz;qux;quux;corge"
| EVAL word = SPLIT(words, ";")
words:keyword word:keyword

foo;bar;baz;qux;quux;corge

[foo,bar,baz,qux,quux,corge]

SUBSTRINGedit

Syntax

SUBSTRING(str,start,length)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.
start
Start position.
length
Length of the substring from the start position. Optional; if omitted, all positions after start are returned.

Description

Returns a substring of a string, specified by a start position and an optional length.

Supported types

str start length result

keyword

integer

integer

keyword

text

integer

integer

keyword

Examples

This example returns the first three characters of every last name:

FROM employees
| KEEP last_name
| EVAL ln_sub = SUBSTRING(last_name, 1, 3)
last_name:keyword ln_sub:keyword

Awdeh

Awd

Azuma

Azu

Baek

Bae

Bamford

Bam

Bernatsky

Ber

A negative start position is interpreted as being relative to the end of the string. This example returns the last three characters of of every last name:

FROM employees
| KEEP last_name
| EVAL ln_sub = SUBSTRING(last_name, -3, 3)
last_name:keyword ln_sub:keyword

Awdeh

deh

Azuma

uma

Baek

aek

Bamford

ord

Bernatsky

sky

If length is omitted, substring returns the remainder of the string. This example returns all characters except for the first:

FROM employees
| KEEP last_name
| EVAL ln_sub = SUBSTRING(last_name, 2)
last_name:keyword ln_sub:keyword

Awdeh

wdeh

Azuma

zuma

Baek

aek

Bamford

amford

Bernatsky

ernatsky

TO_LOWERedit

Syntax

TO_LOWER(str)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns a new string representing the input string converted to lower case.

Supported types

str result

keyword

keyword

text

text

Example

ROW message = "Some Text"
| EVAL message_lower = TO_LOWER(message)
message:keyword message_lower:keyword

Some Text

some text

TO_UPPERedit

Syntax

TO_UPPER(str)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns a new string representing the input string converted to upper case.

Supported types

str result

keyword

keyword

text

text

Example

ROW message = "Some Text"
| EVAL message_upper = TO_UPPER(message)
message:keyword message_upper:keyword

Some Text

SOME TEXT

TRIMedit

Syntax

TRIM(str)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Removes leading and trailing whitespaces from strings.

Supported types

str result

keyword

keyword

text

text

Example

ROW message = "   some text  ",  color = " red "
| EVAL message = TRIM(message)
| EVAL color = TRIM(color)
message:s color:s

some text

red

ES|QL date-time functionsedit

ES|QL supports these date-time functions:

AUTO_BUCKETedit

This functionality is in technical preview and may be changed or removed in a future release. Elastic will work to fix any issues, but features in technical preview are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features.

Syntax

AUTO_BUCKET(expression, buckets, from, to)

Parameters

field
Numeric or date expression from which to derive buckets.
buckets
Target number of buckets.
from
Start of the range. Can be a number or a date expressed as a string.
to
End of the range. Can be a number or a date expressed as a string.

Description

Creates human-friendly buckets and returns a value for each row that corresponds to the resulting bucket the row falls into.

Using a target number of buckets, a start of a range, and an end of a range, AUTO_BUCKET picks an appropriate bucket size to generate the target number of buckets or fewer. For example, asking for at most 20 buckets over a year results in monthly buckets:

FROM employees
| WHERE hire_date >= "1985-01-01T00:00:00Z" AND hire_date < "1986-01-01T00:00:00Z"
| EVAL month = AUTO_BUCKET(hire_date, 20, "1985-01-01T00:00:00Z", "1986-01-01T00:00:00Z")
| KEEP hire_date, month
| SORT hire_date
hire_date:date month:date

1985-02-18T00:00:00.000Z

1985-02-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-02-24T00:00:00.000Z

1985-02-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-05-13T00:00:00.000Z

1985-05-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-07-09T00:00:00.000Z

1985-07-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-09-17T00:00:00.000Z

1985-09-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-10-14T00:00:00.000Z

1985-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-10-20T00:00:00.000Z

1985-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-11-19T00:00:00.000Z

1985-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-11-20T00:00:00.000Z

1985-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-11-20T00:00:00.000Z

1985-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

1985-11-21T00:00:00.000Z

1985-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

The goal isn’t to provide exactly the target number of buckets, it’s to pick a range that people are comfortable with that provides at most the target number of buckets.

Combine AUTO_BUCKET with STATS ... BY to create a histogram:

FROM employees
| WHERE hire_date >= "1985-01-01T00:00:00Z" AND hire_date < "1986-01-01T00:00:00Z"
| EVAL month = AUTO_BUCKET(hire_date, 20, "1985-01-01T00:00:00Z", "1986-01-01T00:00:00Z")
| STATS hires_per_month = COUNT(*) BY month
| SORT month
hires_per_month:long month:date

2

1985-02-01T00:00:00.000Z

1

1985-05-01T00:00:00.000Z

1

1985-07-01T00:00:00.000Z

1

1985-09-01T00:00:00.000Z

2

1985-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

4

1985-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

AUTO_BUCKET does not create buckets that don’t match any documents. That’s why this example is missing 1985-03-01 and other dates.

Asking for more buckets can result in a smaller range. For example, asking for at most 100 buckets in a year results in weekly buckets:

FROM employees
| WHERE hire_date >= "1985-01-01T00:00:00Z" AND hire_date < "1986-01-01T00:00:00Z"
| EVAL week = AUTO_BUCKET(hire_date, 100, "1985-01-01T00:00:00Z", "1986-01-01T00:00:00Z")
| STATS hires_per_week = COUNT(*) BY week
| SORT week
hires_per_week:long week:date

2

1985-02-18T00:00:00.000Z

1

1985-05-13T00:00:00.000Z

1

1985-07-08T00:00:00.000Z

1

1985-09-16T00:00:00.000Z

2

1985-10-14T00:00:00.000Z

4

1985-11-18T00:00:00.000Z

AUTO_BUCKET does not filter any rows. It only uses the provided range to pick a good bucket size. For rows with a value outside of the range, it returns a bucket value that corresponds to a bucket outside the range. Combine AUTO_BUCKET with WHERE to filter rows.

AUTO_BUCKET can also operate on numeric fields. For example, to create a salary histogram:

FROM employees
| EVAL bs = AUTO_BUCKET(salary, 20, 25324, 74999)
| STATS COUNT(*) by bs
| SORT bs
COUNT(*):long bs:double

9

25000.0

9

30000.0

18

35000.0

11

40000.0

11

45000.0

10

50000.0

7

55000.0

9

60000.0

8

65000.0

8

70000.0

Unlike the earlier example that intentionally filters on a date range, you rarely want to filter on a numeric range. You have to find the min and max separately. ES|QL doesn’t yet have an easy way to do that automatically.

Examples

Create hourly buckets for the last 24 hours, and calculate the number of events per hour:

FROM sample_data
| WHERE @timestamp >= NOW() - 1 day and @timestamp < NOW()
| EVAL bucket = AUTO_BUCKET(@timestamp, 25, NOW() - 1 day, NOW())
| STATS COUNT(*) BY bucket

Create monthly buckets for the year 1985, and calculate the average salary by hiring month:

FROM employees
| WHERE hire_date >= "1985-01-01T00:00:00Z" AND hire_date < "1986-01-01T00:00:00Z"
| EVAL bucket = AUTO_BUCKET(hire_date, 20, "1985-01-01T00:00:00Z", "1986-01-01T00:00:00Z")
| STATS AVG(salary) BY bucket
| SORT bucket
AVG(salary):double bucket:date

46305.0

1985-02-01T00:00:00.000Z

44817.0

1985-05-01T00:00:00.000Z

62405.0

1985-07-01T00:00:00.000Z

49095.0

1985-09-01T00:00:00.000Z

51532.0

1985-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

54539.75

1985-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

DATE_DIFFedit

Syntax

DATE_DIFF(unit,startTimestamp,endTimestamp)

Parameters

unit
Time difference unit.
startTimestamp
Start timestamp.
endTimestamp
End timestamp.

Description

Subtracts the startTimestamp from the endTimestamp and returns the difference in multiples of unit. If startTimestamp is later than the endTimestamp, negative values are returned.

Datetime difference units

unit

abbreviations

year

years, yy, yyyy

quarter

quarters, qq, q

month

months, mm, m

dayofyear

dy, y

day

days, dd, d

week

weeks, wk, ww

weekday

weekdays, dw

hour

hours, hh

minute

minutes, mi, n

second

seconds, ss, s

millisecond

milliseconds, ms

microsecond

microseconds, mcs

nanosecond

nanoseconds, ns

Supported types

unit startTimestamp endTimestamp result

keyword

datetime

datetime

integer

text

datetime

datetime

integer

Example

ROW date1 = TO_DATETIME("2023-12-02T11:00:00.000Z"), date2 = TO_DATETIME("2023-12-02T11:00:00.001Z")
| EVAL dd_ms = DATE_DIFF("microseconds", date1, date2)
date1:date date2:date dd_ms:integer

2023-12-02T11:00:00.000Z

2023-12-02T11:00:00.001Z

1000

DATE_EXTRACTedit

Syntax

DATE_EXTRACT(date_part, date)

Parameters

date_part

Part of the date to extract. Can be: aligned_day_of_week_in_month, aligned_day_of_week_in_year, aligned_week_of_month, aligned_week_of_year, ampm_of_day, clock_hour_of_ampm, clock_hour_of_day, day_of_month, day_of_week, day_of_year, epoch_day, era, hour_of_ampm, hour_of_day, instant_seconds, micro_of_day, micro_of_second, milli_of_day, milli_of_second, minute_of_day, minute_of_hour, month_of_year, nano_of_day, nano_of_second, offset_seconds, proleptic_month, second_of_day, second_of_minute, year, or year_of_era. Refer to java.time.temporal.ChronoField for a description of these values.

If null, the function returns null.

date
Date expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Extracts parts of a date, like year, month, day, hour.

Examples

ROW date = DATE_PARSE("yyyy-MM-dd", "2022-05-06")
| EVAL year = DATE_EXTRACT("year", date)
date:date year:long

2022-05-06T00:00:00.000Z

2022

Find all events that occurred outside of business hours (before 9 AM or after 5 PM), on any given date:

FROM sample_data
| WHERE DATE_EXTRACT("hour_of_day", @timestamp) < 9 AND DATE_EXTRACT("hour_of_day", @timestamp) >= 17
@timestamp:date client_ip:ip event_duration:long message:keyword

DATE_FORMATedit

Syntax

DATE_FORMAT([format,] date)

Parameters

format
Date format (optional). If no format is specified, the yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ format is used. If null, the function returns null.
date
Date expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns a string representation of a date, in the provided format.

Example

FROM employees
| KEEP first_name, last_name, hire_date
| EVAL hired = DATE_FORMAT("YYYY-MM-dd", hire_date)
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword hire_date:date hired:keyword

Alejandro

McAlpine

1991-06-26T00:00:00.000Z

1991-06-26

Amabile

Gomatam

1992-11-18T00:00:00.000Z

1992-11-18

Anneke

Preusig

1989-06-02T00:00:00.000Z

1989-06-02

DATE_PARSEedit

Syntax

DATE_PARSE([format,] date_string)

Parameters

format
The date format. Refer to the DateTimeFormatter documentation for the syntax. If null, the function returns null.
date_string
Date expression as a string. If null or an empty string, the function returns null.

Description

Returns a date by parsing the second argument using the format specified in the first argument.

Example

ROW date_string = "2022-05-06"
| EVAL date = DATE_PARSE("yyyy-MM-dd", date_string)
date_string:keyword date:date

2022-05-06

2022-05-06T00:00:00.000Z

DATE_TRUNCedit

Syntax

DATE_TRUNC(interval, date)

Parameters

interval
Interval, expressed using the timespan literal syntax. If null, the function returns null.
date
Date expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Rounds down a date to the closest interval.

Examples

FROM employees
| KEEP first_name, last_name, hire_date
| EVAL year_hired = DATE_TRUNC(1 year, hire_date)
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword hire_date:date year_hired:date

Alejandro

McAlpine

1991-06-26T00:00:00.000Z

1991-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

Amabile

Gomatam

1992-11-18T00:00:00.000Z

1992-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

Anneke

Preusig

1989-06-02T00:00:00.000Z

1989-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

Combine DATE_TRUNC with STATS ... BY to create date histograms. For example, the number of hires per year:

FROM employees
| EVAL year = DATE_TRUNC(1 year, hire_date)
| STATS hires = COUNT(emp_no) BY year
| SORT year
hires:long year:date

11

1985-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

11

1986-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

15

1987-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

9

1988-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

13

1989-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

12

1990-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

6

1991-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

8

1992-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

3

1993-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

4

1994-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

5

1995-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

1

1996-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

1

1997-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

1

1999-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

Or an hourly error rate:

FROM sample_data
| EVAL error = CASE(message LIKE "*error*", 1, 0)
| EVAL hour = DATE_TRUNC(1 hour, @timestamp)
| STATS error_rate = AVG(error) by hour
| SORT hour
error_rate:double hour:date

0.0

2023-10-23T12:00:00.000Z

0.6

2023-10-23T13:00:00.000Z

NOWedit

Syntax

NOW()

Description

Returns current date and time.

Example

ROW current_date = NOW()

To retrieve logs from the last hour:

FROM sample_data
| WHERE @timestamp > NOW() - 1 hour

ES|QL type conversion functionsedit

ES|QL supports these type conversion functions:

TO_BOOLEANedit

Alias

TO_BOOL

Syntax

TO_BOOLEAN(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input value to a boolean value.

A string value of "true" will be case-insensitive converted to the Boolean true. For anything else, including the empty string, the function will return false.

The numerical value of 0 will be converted to false, anything else will be converted to true.

Supported types

The input type must be of a string or numeric type.

Example

ROW str = ["true", "TRuE", "false", "", "yes", "1"]
| EVAL bool = TO_BOOLEAN(str)
str:keyword bool:boolean

["true", "TRuE", "false", "", "yes", "1"]

[true, true, false, false, false, false]

TO_CARTESIANPOINTedit

Syntax

TO_CARTESIANPOINT(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input value to a point value.

A string will only be successfully converted if it respects the WKT Point format.

Supported types

v result

cartesian_point

cartesian_point

keyword

cartesian_point

text

cartesian_point

Example

ROW wkt = ["POINT(4297.11 -1475.53)", "POINT(7580.93 2272.77)"]
| MV_EXPAND wkt
| EVAL pt = TO_CARTESIANPOINT(wkt)
wkt:keyword pt:cartesian_point

"POINT(4297.11 -1475.53)"

POINT(4297.11 -1475.53)

"POINT(7580.93 2272.77)"

POINT(7580.93 2272.77)

TO_CARTESIANSHAPEedit

Syntax

TO_CARTESIANSHAPE(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression. The input type must be a string, a cartesian_shape or a cartesian_point.

Description

Converts an input value to a cartesian_shape value.

A string will only be successfully converted if it respects the WKT format.

Supported types

v result

cartesian_point

cartesian_shape

cartesian_shape

cartesian_shape

keyword

cartesian_shape

text

cartesian_shape

Example

ROW wkt = ["POINT(4297.11 -1475.53)", "POLYGON ((3339584.72 1118889.97, 4452779.63 4865942.27, 2226389.81 4865942.27, 1113194.90 2273030.92, 3339584.72 1118889.97))"]
| MV_EXPAND wkt
| EVAL geom = TO_CARTESIANSHAPE(wkt)
wkt:keyword geom:cartesian_shape

"POINT(4297.11 -1475.53)"

POINT(4297.11 -1475.53)

"POLYGON 3339584.72 1118889.97, 4452779.63 4865942.27, 2226389.81 4865942.27, 1113194.90 2273030.92, 3339584.72 1118889.97"

POLYGON 3339584.72 1118889.97, 4452779.63 4865942.27, 2226389.81 4865942.27, 1113194.90 2273030.92, 3339584.72 1118889.97

TO_DATETIMEedit

Alias

TO_DT

Syntax

TO_DATETIME(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input value to a date value.

A string will only be successfully converted if it’s respecting the format yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'. To convert dates in other formats, use DATE_PARSE.

Supported types

The input type must be of a string or numeric type.

Examples

ROW string = ["1953-09-02T00:00:00.000Z", "1964-06-02T00:00:00.000Z", "1964-06-02 00:00:00"]
| EVAL datetime = TO_DATETIME(string)
string:keyword datetime:date

["1953-09-02T00:00:00.000Z", "1964-06-02T00:00:00.000Z", "1964-06-02 00:00:00"]

[1953-09-02T00:00:00.000Z, 1964-06-02T00:00:00.000Z]

Note that in this example, the last value in the source multi-valued field has not been converted. The reason being that if the date format is not respected, the conversion will result in a null value. When this happens a Warning header is added to the response. The header will provide information on the source of the failure:

"Line 1:112: evaluation of [TO_DATETIME(string)] failed, treating result as null. Only first 20 failures recorded."

A following header will contain the failure reason and the offending value:

"java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: failed to parse date field [1964-06-02 00:00:00] with format [yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z']"

If the input parameter is of a numeric type, its value will be interpreted as milliseconds since the Unix epoch. For example:

ROW int = [0, 1]
| EVAL dt = TO_DATETIME(int)
int:integer dt:date

[0, 1]

[1970-01-01T00:00:00.000Z, 1970-01-01T00:00:00.001Z]

TO_DEGREESedit

Syntax

TO_DEGREES(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts a number in radians to degrees.

Supported types

The input type must be of a numeric type and result is always double.

Example

ROW rad = [1.57, 3.14, 4.71]
| EVAL deg = TO_DEGREES(rad)
rad:double deg:double

[1.57, 3.14, 4.71]

[89.95437383553924, 179.9087476710785, 269.86312150661774]

TO_DOUBLEedit

Alias

TO_DBL

Syntax

TO_DOUBLE(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input value to a double value.

If the input parameter is of a date type, its value will be interpreted as milliseconds since the Unix epoch, converted to double.

Boolean true will be converted to double 1.0, false to 0.0.

Supported types

The input type must be of a boolean, date, string or numeric type.

Example

ROW str1 = "5.20128E11", str2 = "foo"
| EVAL dbl = TO_DOUBLE("520128000000"), dbl1 = TO_DOUBLE(str1), dbl2 = TO_DOUBLE(str2)
str1:keyword str2:keyword dbl:double dbl1:double dbl2:double

5.20128E11

foo

5.20128E11

5.20128E11

null

Note that in this example, the last conversion of the string isn’t possible. When this happens, the result is a null value. In this case a Warning header is added to the response. The header will provide information on the source of the failure:

"Line 1:115: evaluation of [TO_DOUBLE(str2)] failed, treating result as null. Only first 20 failures recorded."

A following header will contain the failure reason and the offending value:

"java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: \"foo\""

TO_GEOPOINTedit

Syntax

TO_GEOPOINT(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression. The input type must be a string or a geo_point.

Description

Converts an input value to a geo_point value.

Supported types

v result

geo_point

geo_point

keyword

geo_point

text

geo_point

A string will only be successfully converted if it respects the WKT Point format.

Example

ROW wkt = "POINT(42.97109630194 14.7552534413725)"
| EVAL pt = TO_GEOPOINT(wkt)
wkt:keyword pt:geo_point

"POINT(42.97109630194 14.7552534413725)"

POINT(42.97109630194 14.7552534413725)

TO_GEOSHAPEedit

Syntax

TO_GEOPOINT(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression. The input type must be a string, a geo_shape or a geo_point.

Description

Converts an input value to a geo_shape value.

A string will only be successfully converted if it respects the WKT format.

Supported types

v result

geo_point

geo_shape

geo_shape

geo_shape

keyword

geo_shape

text

geo_shape

Example

ROW wkt = "POLYGON ((30 10, 40 40, 20 40, 10 20, 30 10))"
| EVAL geom = TO_GEOSHAPE(wkt)
wkt:keyword geom:geo_shape

"POLYGON 30 10, 40 40, 20 40, 10 20, 30 10"

POLYGON 30 10, 40 40, 20 40, 10 20, 30 10

TO_INTEGERedit

Alias

TO_INT

Syntax

TO_INTEGER(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input value to an integer value.

If the input parameter is of a date type, its value will be interpreted as milliseconds since the Unix epoch, converted to integer.

Boolean true will be converted to integer 1, false to 0.

Supported types

The input type must be of a boolean, date, string or numeric type.

Example

ROW long = [5013792, 2147483647, 501379200000]
| EVAL int = TO_INTEGER(long)
long:long int:integer

[5013792, 2147483647, 501379200000]

[5013792, 2147483647]

Note that in this example, the last value of the multi-valued field cannot be converted as an integer. When this happens, the result is a null value. In this case a Warning header is added to the response. The header will provide information on the source of the failure:

"Line 1:61: evaluation of [TO_INTEGER(long)] failed, treating result as null. Only first 20 failures recorded."

A following header will contain the failure reason and the offending value:

"org.elasticsearch.xpack.ql.InvalidArgumentException: [501379200000] out of [integer] range"

TO_IPedit

Syntax

TO_IP(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input string to an IP value.

Example

ROW str1 = "1.1.1.1", str2 = "foo"
| EVAL ip1 = TO_IP(str1), ip2 = TO_IP(str2)
| WHERE CIDR_MATCH(ip1, "1.0.0.0/8")
str1:keyword str2:keyword ip1:ip ip2:ip

1.1.1.1

foo

1.1.1.1

null

Note that in this example, the last conversion of the string isn’t possible. When this happens, the result is a null value. In this case a Warning header is added to the response. The header will provide information on the source of the failure:

"Line 1:68: evaluation of [TO_IP(str2)] failed, treating result as null. Only first 20 failures recorded."

A following header will contain the failure reason and the offending value:

"java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: 'foo' is not an IP string literal."

TO_LONGedit

Syntax

TO_LONG(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input value to a long value.

If the input parameter is of a date type, its value will be interpreted as milliseconds since the Unix epoch, converted to long.

Boolean true will be converted to long 1, false to 0.

Supported types

The input type must be of a boolean, date, string or numeric type.

Example

ROW str1 = "2147483648", str2 = "2147483648.2", str3 = "foo"
| EVAL long1 = TO_LONG(str1), long2 = TO_LONG(str2), long3 = TO_LONG(str3)
str1:keyword str2:keyword str3:keyword long1:long long2:long long3:long

2147483648

2147483648.2

foo

2147483648

2147483648

null

Note that in this example, the last conversion of the string isn’t possible. When this happens, the result is a null value. In this case a Warning header is added to the response. The header will provide information on the source of the failure:

"Line 1:113: evaluation of [TO_LONG(str3)] failed, treating result as null. Only first 20 failures recorded."

A following header will contain the failure reason and the offending value:

"java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: \"foo\""

TO_RADIANSedit

Syntax

TO_RADIANS(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts a number in degrees to radians.

Supported types

The input type must be of a numeric type and result is always double.

Example

ROW deg = [90.0, 180.0, 270.0]
| EVAL rad = TO_RADIANS(deg)
deg:double rad:double

[90.0, 180.0, 270.0]

[1.5707963267948966, 3.141592653589793, 4.71238898038469]

TO_STRINGedit

Alias

TO_STR

TO_STRING(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input value into a string.

Supported types

v result

boolean

keyword

cartesian_point

keyword

cartesian_shape

keyword

datetime

keyword

double

keyword

geo_point

keyword

geo_shape

keyword

integer

keyword

ip

keyword

keyword

keyword

long

keyword

text

keyword

unsigned_long

keyword

version

keyword

Example

ROW a=10
| EVAL j = TO_STRING(a)
a:integer j:keyword

10

"10"

It also works fine on multivalued fields:

ROW a=[10, 9, 8]
| EVAL j = TO_STRING(a)
a:integer j:keyword

[10, 9, 8]

["10", "9", "8"]

TO_UNSIGNED_LONGedit

This functionality is in technical preview and may be changed or removed in a future release. Elastic will work to fix any issues, but features in technical preview are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features.

Aliases

TO_ULONG, TO_UL

Syntax

TO_UNSIGNED_LONG(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input value to an unsigned long value.

Supported types

The input type must be of a boolean, date, string or numeric type.

If the input parameter is of a date type, its value will be interpreted as milliseconds since the Unix epoch, converted to unsigned long.

Boolean true will be converted to unsigned long 1, false to 0.

Example

ROW str1 = "2147483648", str2 = "2147483648.2", str3 = "foo"
| EVAL long1 = TO_UNSIGNED_LONG(str1), long2 = TO_ULONG(str2), long3 = TO_UL(str3)
str1:keyword str2:keyword str3:keyword long1:unsigned_long long2:unsigned_long long3:unsigned_long

2147483648

2147483648.2

foo

2147483648

2147483648

null

Note that in this example, the last conversion of the string isn’t possible. When this happens, the result is a null value. In this case a Warning header is added to the response. The header will provide information on the source of the failure:

"Line 1:133: evaluation of [TO_UL(str3)] failed, treating result as null. Only first 20 failures recorded."

A following header will contain the failure reason and the offending value:

"java.lang.NumberFormatException: Character f is neither a decimal digit number, decimal point, nor \"e\" notation exponential mark."

TO_VERSIONedit

Alias

TO_VER

Syntax

TO_VERSION(v)

Parameters

v
Input value. The input can be a single- or multi-valued column or an expression.

Description

Converts an input string to a version value.

Supported types

v result

keyword

version

text

version

version

version

Example

ROW v = TO_VERSION("1.2.3")
v:version

1.2.3

ES|QL conditional functions and expressionsedit

Conditional functions return one of their arguments by evaluating in an if-else manner. ES|QL supports these conditional functions:

CASEedit

Syntax

CASE(condition1, value1[, ..., conditionN, valueN][, default_value])

Parameters

conditionX
A condition.
valueX
The value that’s returned when the corresponding condition is the first to evaluate to true.
default_value
The default value that’s is returned when no condition matches.

Description

Accepts pairs of conditions and values. The function returns the value that belongs to the first condition that evaluates to true.

If the number of arguments is odd, the last argument is the default value which is returned when no condition matches. If the number of arguments is even, and no condition matches, the function returns null.

Example

Determine whether employees are monolingual, bilingual, or polyglot:

FROM employees
| EVAL type = CASE(
    languages <= 1, "monolingual",
    languages <= 2, "bilingual",
     "polyglot")
| KEEP emp_no, languages, type
emp_no:integer languages:integer type:keyword

10001

2

bilingual

10002

5

polyglot

10003

4

polyglot

10004

5

polyglot

10005

1

monolingual

Calculate the total connection success rate based on log messages:

FROM sample_data
| EVAL successful = CASE(
    STARTS_WITH(message, "Connected to"), 1,
    message == "Connection error", 0
  )
| STATS success_rate = AVG(successful)
success_rate:double

0.5

Calculate an hourly error rate as a percentage of the total number of log messages:

FROM sample_data
| EVAL error = CASE(message LIKE "*error*", 1, 0)
| EVAL hour = DATE_TRUNC(1 hour, @timestamp)
| STATS error_rate = AVG(error) by hour
| SORT hour
error_rate:double hour:date

0.0

2023-10-23T12:00:00.000Z

0.6

2023-10-23T13:00:00.000Z

COALESCEedit

Syntax

COALESCE(expression1 [, ..., expressionN])

Parameters

expressionX
Expression to evaluate.

Description

Returns the first of its arguments that is not null. If all arguments are null, it returns null.

Example

ROW a=null, b="b"
| EVAL COALESCE(a, b)
a:null b:keyword COALESCE(a, b):keyword

null

b

b

GREATESTedit

Syntax

GREATEST(first,rest)

Parameters

first
First of the columns to evaluate.
rest
The rest of the columns to evaluate.

Description

Returns the maximum value from multiple columns. This is similar to MV_MAX except it is intended to run on multiple columns at once.

When run on keyword or text fields, this returns the last string in alphabetical order. When run on boolean columns this will return true if any values are true.

Supported types

first rest result

boolean

boolean

boolean

double

double

double

integer

integer

integer

ip

ip

ip

keyword

keyword

keyword

long

long

long

text

text

text

version

version

version

Example

ROW a = 10, b = 20
| EVAL g = GREATEST(a, b)
a:integer b:integer g:integer

10

20

20

LEASTedit

Syntax

LEAST(first,rest)

Parameters

first
First of the columns to evaluate.
rest
The rest of the columns to evaluate.

Description

Returns the minimum value from multiple columns. This is similar to MV_MIN except it is intended to run on multiple columns at once.

When run on keyword or text fields, this returns the first string in alphabetical order. When run on boolean columns this will return false if any values are false.

Supported types

first rest result

boolean

boolean

boolean

double

double

double

integer

integer

integer

ip

ip

ip

keyword

keyword

keyword

long

long

long

text

text

text

version

version

version

Example

ROW a = 10, b = 20
| EVAL l = LEAST(a, b)
a:integer b:integer l:integer

10

20

10

ES|QL multivalue functionsedit

ES|QL supports these multivalue functions:

MV_AVGedit

Syntax

MV_AVG(expression)

Parameters

expression
Multivalue expression.

Description

Converts a multivalued expression into a single valued column containing the average of all of the values.

Supported types

field result

double

double

integer

double

long

double

unsigned_long

double

Example

ROW a=[3, 5, 1, 6]
| EVAL avg_a = MV_AVG(a)
a:integer avg_a:double

[3, 5, 1, 6]

3.75

MV_CONCATedit

Syntax

MV_CONCAT(v,delim)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.
delim
Delimiter.

Description

Converts a multivalued string expression into a single valued column containing the concatenation of all values separated by a delimiter.

Supported types

v delim result

keyword

keyword

keyword

keyword

text

keyword

text

keyword

keyword

text

text

keyword

Examples

ROW a=["foo", "zoo", "bar"]
| EVAL j = MV_CONCAT(a, ", ")
a:keyword j:keyword

["foo", "zoo", "bar"]

"foo, zoo, bar"

To concat non-string columns, call TO_STRING first:

ROW a=[10, 9, 8]
| EVAL j = MV_CONCAT(TO_STRING(a), ", ")
a:integer j:keyword

[10, 9, 8]

"10, 9, 8"

MV_COUNTedit

Syntax

MV_COUNT(v)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.

Description

Converts a multivalued expression into a single valued column containing a count of the number of values.

Supported types

v result

boolean

integer

cartesian_point

integer

cartesian_shape

integer

datetime

integer

double

integer

geo_point

integer

geo_shape

integer

integer

integer

ip

integer

keyword

integer

long

integer

text

integer

unsigned_long

integer

version

integer

Example

ROW a=["foo", "zoo", "bar"]
| EVAL count_a = MV_COUNT(a)
a:keyword count_a:integer

["foo", "zoo", "bar"]

3

MV_DEDUPEedit

Syntax

MV_DEDUPE(v)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.

Description

Removes duplicates from a multivalue expression.

MV_DEDUPE may, but won’t always, sort the values in the column.

Supported types

v result

boolean

boolean

datetime

datetime

double

double

integer

integer

ip

ip

keyword

keyword

long

long

text

text

version

version

Example

ROW a=["foo", "foo", "bar", "foo"]
| EVAL dedupe_a = MV_DEDUPE(a)
a:keyword dedupe_a:keyword

["foo", "foo", "bar", "foo"]

["foo", "bar"]

MV_FIRSTedit

Syntax

MV_FIRST(v)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.

Description

Converts a multivalued expression into a single valued column containing the first value. This is most useful when reading from a function that emits multivalued columns in a known order like SPLIT.

The order that multivalued fields are read from underlying storage is not guaranteed. It is frequently ascending, but don’t rely on that. If you need the minimum value use MV_MIN instead of MV_FIRST. MV_MIN has optimizations for sorted values so there isn’t a performance benefit to MV_FIRST.

Supported types

v result

boolean

boolean

cartesian_point

cartesian_point

cartesian_shape

cartesian_shape

datetime

datetime

double

double

geo_point

geo_point

geo_shape

geo_shape

integer

integer

ip

ip

keyword

keyword

long

long

text

text

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

version

version

Example

ROW a="foo;bar;baz"
| EVAL first_a = MV_FIRST(SPLIT(a, ";"))
a:keyword first_a:keyword

foo;bar;baz

"foo"

MV_LASTedit

Syntax

MV_LAST(v)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.

Description

Converts a multivalue expression into a single valued column containing the last value. This is most useful when reading from a function that emits multivalued columns in a known order like SPLIT.

The order that multivalued fields are read from underlying storage is not guaranteed. It is frequently ascending, but don’t rely on that. If you need the maximum value use MV_MAX instead of MV_LAST. MV_MAX has optimizations for sorted values so there isn’t a performance benefit to MV_LAST.

Supported types

v result

boolean

boolean

cartesian_point

cartesian_point

cartesian_shape

cartesian_shape

datetime

datetime

double

double

geo_point

geo_point

geo_shape

geo_shape

integer

integer

ip

ip

keyword

keyword

long

long

text

text

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

version

version

Example

ROW a="foo;bar;baz"
| EVAL last_a = MV_LAST(SPLIT(a, ";"))
a:keyword last_a:keyword

foo;bar;baz

"baz"

MV_MAXedit

Syntax

MV_MAX(v)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.

Description

Converts a multivalued expression into a single valued column containing the maximum value.

Supported types

v result

boolean

boolean

datetime

datetime

double

double

integer

integer

ip

ip

keyword

keyword

long

long

text

text

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

version

version

Examples

ROW a=[3, 5, 1]
| EVAL max_a = MV_MAX(a)
a:integer max_a:integer

[3, 5, 1]

5

It can be used by any column type, including keyword columns. In that case it picks the last string, comparing their utf-8 representation byte by byte:

ROW a=["foo", "zoo", "bar"]
| EVAL max_a = MV_MAX(a)
a:keyword max_a:keyword

["foo", "zoo", "bar"]

"zoo"

MV_MEDIANedit

MV_MEDIAN(v)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.

Description

Converts a multivalued column into a single valued column containing the median value.

Supported types

v result

double

double

integer

integer

long

long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

Examples

ROW a=[3, 5, 1]
| EVAL median_a = MV_MEDIAN(a)
a:integer median_a:integer

[3, 5, 1]

3

If the row has an even number of values for a column, the result will be the average of the middle two entries. If the column is not floating point, the average rounds down:

ROW a=[3, 7, 1, 6]
| EVAL median_a = MV_MEDIAN(a)
a:integer median_a:integer

[3, 7, 1, 6]

4

MV_MINedit

Syntax

MV_MIN(v)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.

Description

Converts a multivalued expression into a single valued column containing the minimum value.

Supported types

v result

boolean

boolean

datetime

datetime

double

double

integer

integer

ip

ip

keyword

keyword

long

long

text

text

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

version

version

Examples

ROW a=[2, 1]
| EVAL min_a = MV_MIN(a)
a:integer min_a:integer

[2, 1]

1

It can be used by any column type, including keyword columns. In that case, it picks the first string, comparing their utf-8 representation byte by byte:

ROW a=["foo", "bar"]
| EVAL min_a = MV_MIN(a)
a:keyword min_a:keyword

["foo", "bar"]

"bar"

MV_SUMedit

MV_SUM(v)

Parameters

v
Multivalue expression.

Description

Converts a multivalued column into a single valued column containing the sum of all of the values.

Supported types

v result

double

double

integer

integer

long

long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

Example

ROW a=[3, 5, 6]
| EVAL sum_a = MV_SUM(a)
a:integer sum_a:integer

[3, 5, 6]

14

ES|QL operatorsedit

Boolean operators for comparing against one or multiple expressions.

Binary operatorsedit

Equalityedit

lhs==rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

integer

integer

boolean

Inequality !=edit

lhs!=rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

integer

integer

boolean

Less than <edit

lhs<rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

integer

integer

boolean

Less than or equal to <=edit

lhs<=rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

integer

integer

boolean

Greater than >edit

lhs>rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

integer

integer

boolean

Greater than or equal to >=edit

lhs>=rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

integer

integer

boolean

Add +edit

lhs+rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

date_period

date_period

date_period

date_period

datetime

datetime

datetime

date_period

datetime

datetime

time_duration

datetime

double

double

double

double

integer

double

double

long

double

integer

double

double

integer

integer

integer

integer

long

long

long

double

double

long

integer

long

long

long

long

time_duration

datetime

datetime

time_duration

time_duration

time_duration

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

Subtract -edit

lhs-rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

date_period

date_period

date_period

datetime

date_period

datetime

datetime

time_duration

datetime

double

double

double

integer

integer

integer

long

long

long

time_duration

time_duration

time_duration

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

Multiply *edit

lhs*rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

double

double

double

integer

integer

integer

long

long

long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

unsigned_long

Divide /edit

lhs/rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

double

double

double

integer

integer

integer

long

long

long

Modulus %edit

lhs%rhs

Supported types:

lhs rhs result

double

double

double

integer

integer

integer

long

long

long

Unary operatorsedit

The only unary operators is negation (-):

-v

Supported types:

v result

date_period

date_period

double

double

integer

integer

long

long

time_duration

time_duration

Logical operatorsedit

The following logical operators are supported:

  • AND
  • OR
  • NOT

IS NULL and IS NOT NULL predicatesedit

For NULL comparison, use the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL predicates:

FROM employees
| WHERE birth_date IS NULL
| KEEP first_name, last_name
| SORT first_name
| LIMIT 3
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword

Basil

Tramer

Florian

Syrotiuk

Lucien

Rosenbaum

FROM employees
| WHERE is_rehired IS NOT NULL
| STATS COUNT(emp_no)
COUNT(emp_no):long

84

CIDR_MATCHedit

Syntax

CIDR_MATCH(ip, block1[, ..., blockN])

Parameters

ip
IP address of type ip (both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported).
blockX
CIDR block to test the IP against.

Description

Returns true if the provided IP is contained in one of the provided CIDR blocks.

Example

FROM hosts
| WHERE CIDR_MATCH(ip1, "127.0.0.2/32", "127.0.0.3/32")
| KEEP card, host, ip0, ip1
card:keyword host:keyword ip0:ip ip1:ip

eth1

beta

127.0.0.1

127.0.0.2

eth0

gamma

fe80::cae2:65ff:fece:feb9

127.0.0.3

ENDS_WITHedit

Syntax

ENDS_WITH(str,suffix)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.
suffix
String expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns a boolean that indicates whether a keyword string ends with another string.

Supported types

str suffix result

keyword

keyword

boolean

text

text

boolean

Example

FROM employees
| KEEP last_name
| EVAL ln_E = ENDS_WITH(last_name, "d")
last_name:keyword ln_E:boolean

Awdeh

false

Azuma

false

Baek

false

Bamford

true

Bernatsky

false

INedit

The IN operator allows testing whether a field or expression equals an element in a list of literals, fields or expressions:

ROW a = 1, b = 4, c = 3
| WHERE c-a IN (3, b / 2, a)
a:integer b:integer c:integer

1

4

3

LIKEedit

Use LIKE to filter data based on string patterns using wildcards. LIKE usually acts on a field placed on the left-hand side of the operator, but it can also act on a constant (literal) expression. The right-hand side of the operator represents the pattern.

The following wildcard characters are supported:

  • * matches zero or more characters.
  • ? matches one character.
FROM employees
| WHERE first_name LIKE "?b*"
| KEEP first_name, last_name
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword

Ebbe

Callaway

Eberhardt

Terkki

RLIKEedit

Use RLIKE to filter data based on string patterns using using regular expressions. RLIKE usually acts on a field placed on the left-hand side of the operator, but it can also act on a constant (literal) expression. The right-hand side of the operator represents the pattern.

FROM employees
| WHERE first_name RLIKE ".leja.*"
| KEEP first_name, last_name
first_name:keyword last_name:keyword

Alejandro

McAlpine

STARTS_WITHedit

Syntax

STARTS_WITH(str,prefix)

Parameters

str
String expression. If null, the function returns null.
prefix
String expression. If null, the function returns null.

Description

Returns a boolean that indicates whether a keyword string starts with another string.

Supported types

str prefix result

keyword

keyword

boolean

text

text

boolean

Example

FROM employees
| KEEP last_name
| EVAL ln_S = STARTS_WITH(last_name, "B")
last_name:keyword ln_S:boolean

Awdeh

false

Azuma

false

Baek

true

Bamford

true

Bernatsky

true