expr/docs/Language-Definition.md

Language Definition

Literals

Comment	/* */ or //
Boolean	true, false
Integer	42, 0x2A
Float	0.5, .5
String	"foo", 'bar'
Array	[1, 2, 3]
Map	{a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}
Nil	nil

Operators

Arithmetic	+, -, *, /, % (modulus), ^ or ** (exponent)
Comparison	==, !=, <, >, <=, >=
Logical	not or !, and or &&, or or ||
Conditional	?: (ternary), ?? (nil coalescing)
Membership	[], ., ?., in
String	+ (concatenation), contains, startsWith, endsWith
Regex	matches
Range	..
Slice	[:]
Pipe	|

Examples:

user.Age in 18..45 and user.Name not in ["admin", "root"]

foo matches "^[A-Z].*"

tweets | filter(.Size < 280) | map(.Content) | join(" -- ")

filter(posts, {now() - .CreatedAt >= 7 * duration("24h")})

Membership Operator

Fields of structs and items of maps can be accessed with . operator or [] operator. Elements of arrays and slices can be accessed with [] operator. Negative indices are supported with -1 being the last element.

The in operator can be used to check if an item is in an array or a map.

user.Name in list["available-names"]

Optional chaining

The ?. operator can be used to access a field of a struct or an item of a map without checking if the struct or the map is nil. If the struct or the map is nil, the result of the expression is nil.

author?.User?.Name

Nil coalescing

The ?? operator can be used to return the left-hand side if it is not nil, otherwise the right-hand side is returned.

author?.User?.Name ?? "Anonymous"

Slice Operator

The slice operator [:] can be used to access a slice of an array.

For example, variable array is [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]:

array[1:4] == [2, 3, 4]
array[1:-1] == [2, 3, 4]
array[:3] == [1, 2, 3]
array[3:] == [4, 5]
array[:] == array

Pipe Operator

The pipe operator | can be used to pass the result of the left-hand side expression as the first argument of the right-hand side expression.

For example, expression split(lower(user.Name), " ") can be written as:

user.Name | lower() | split(" ")

String Functions

trim(str[, chars])

Removes white spaces from both ends of a string str. If the optional chars argument is given, it is a string specifying the set of characters to be removed.

trim("  Hello  ") == "Hello"
trim("__Hello__", "_") == "Hello"

trimPrefix(str, prefix)

Removes the specified prefix from the string str if it starts with that prefix.

trimPrefix("HelloWorld", "Hello") == "World"

trimSuffix(str, suffix)

Removes the specified suffix from the string str if it ends with that suffix.

trimSuffix("HelloWorld", "World") == "Hello"

upper(str)

Converts all the characters in string str to uppercase.

upper("hello") == "HELLO"

lower(str)

Converts all the characters in string str to lowercase.

lower("HELLO") == "hello"

split(str, delimiter[, n])

Splits the string str at each instance of the delimiter and returns an array of substrings.

split("apple,orange,grape", ",") == ["apple", "orange", "grape"]
split("apple,orange,grape", ",", 2) == ["apple", "orange,grape"]

splitAfter(str, delimiter[, n])

Splits the string str after each instance of the delimiter.

splitAfter("apple,orange,grape", ",") == ["apple,", "orange,", "grape"]
splitAfter("apple,orange,grape", ",", 2) == ["apple,", "orange,grape"]

replace(str, old, new)

Replaces all occurrences of old in string str with new.

replace("Hello World", "World", "Universe") == "Hello Universe"

repeat(str, n)

Repeats the string str n times.

repeat("Hi", 3) == "HiHiHi"

indexOf(str, substring)

Returns the index of the first occurrence of the substring in string str or -1 if not found.

indexOf("apple pie", "pie") == 6

lastIndexOf(str, substring)

Returns the index of the last occurrence of the substring in string str or -1 if not found.

lastIndexOf("apple pie apple", "apple") == 10

hasPrefix(str, prefix)

Returns true if string str starts with the given prefix.

hasPrefix("HelloWorld", "Hello") == true

hasSuffix(str, suffix)

Returns true if string str ends with the given suffix.

hasSuffix("HelloWorld", "World") == true

Date Functions

The following operators can be used to manipulate dates:

date("2023-08-14") + duration("1h")
date("2023-08-14") - duration("1h")
date("2023-08-14") - date("2023-08-13") == duration("24h")

now()

Returns the current date and time.

createdAt > now() - duration(1h)

duration(str)

Returns time.Duration value of the given string str.

Valid time units are "ns", "us" (or "µs"), "ms", "s", "m", "h".

duration("1h").Seconds() == 3600

date(str[, format[, timezone]])

Converts the given string str into a date representation.

If the optional format argument is given, it is a string specifying the format of the date. The format string uses the same formatting rules as the standard Go time package.

If the optional timezone argument is given, it is a string specifying the timezone of the date.

If the format argument is not given, the v argument must be in one of the following formats:

• 2006-01-02
• 15:04:05
• 2006-01-02 15:04:05
• RFC3339
• RFC822,
• RFC850,
• RFC1123,

date("2023-08-14")
date("15:04:05")
date("2023-08-14T00:00:00Z")
date("2023-08-14 00:00:00", "2006-01-02 15:04:05", "Europe/Zurich")

Number Functions

max(n1, n2)

Returns the maximum of the two numbers n1 and n2.

max(5, 7) == 7

min(n1, n2)

Returns the minimum of the two numbers n1 and n2.

min(5, 7) == 5

abs(n)

Returns the absolute value of a number.

Array Functions

all(array, predicate)

Returns true if all elements satisfies the predicate. If the array is empty, returns true.

all(tweets, {.Size < 280})

any(array, predicate)

Returns true if any elements satisfies the predicate. If the array is empty, returns false.

one(array, predicate)

Returns true if exactly one element satisfies the predicate. If the array is empty, returns false.

one(participants, {.Winner})

none(array, predicate)

Returns true if all elements does not satisfy the predicate. If the array is empty, returns true.

map(array, predicate)

Returns new array by applying the predicate to each element of the array.

map(tweets, {.Size})

filter(array, predicate)

Returns new array by filtering elements of the array by predicate.

filter(users, .Name startsWith "J")

find(array, predicate)

Finds the first element in an array that satisfies the predicate.

find([1, 2, 3, 4], # > 2) == 3

findIndex(array, predicate)

Finds the index of the first element in an array that satisfies the predicate.

findIndex([1, 2, 3, 4], # > 2) == 2

findLast(array, predicate)

Finds the last element in an array that satisfies the predicate.

findLast([1, 2, 3, 4], # > 2) == 4

findLastIndex(array, predicate)

Finds the index of the last element in an array that satisfies the predicate.

findLastIndex([1, 2, 3, 4], # > 2) == 3

groupBy(array, predicate)

Groups the elements of an array by the result of the predicate.

groupBy(users, .Age)

count(array, predicate)

Returns the number of elements what satisfies the predicate.

Equivalent to:

len(filter(array, predicate))

join(array[, delimiter])

Joins an array of strings into a single string with the given delimiter. If no delimiter is given, an empty string is used.

join(["apple", "orange", "grape"], ",") == "apple,orange,grape"
join(["apple", "orange", "grape"]) == "appleorangegrape"

reduce(array, predicate[, initialValue])

Applies a predicate to each element in the array, reducing the array to a single value. Optional initialValue argument can be used to specify the initial value of the accumulator. If initialValue is not given, the first element of the array is used as the initial value.

Following variables are available in the predicate:

• # - the current element
• #acc - the accumulator
• #index - the index of the current element

reduce(1..9, #acc + #)
reduce(1..9, #acc + #, 0)

sum(array)

Returns the sum of all numbers in the array.

sum([1, 2, 3]) == 6

mean(array)

Returns the average of all numbers in the array.

mean([1, 2, 3]) == 2.0

median(array)

Returns the median of all numbers in the array.

median([1, 2, 3]) == 2.0

first(array)

Returns the first element from an array. If the array is empty, returns nil.

first([1, 2, 3]) == 1

last(array)

Returns the last element from an array. If the array is empty, returns nil.

last([1, 2, 3]) == 3

take(array, n)

Returns the first n elements from an array. If the array has fewer than n elements, returns the whole array.

take([1, 2, 3, 4], 2) == [1, 2]

sort(array[, order])

Sorts an array in ascending order. Optional order argument can be used to specify the order of sorting: asc or desc.

sort([3, 1, 4]) == [1, 3, 4]
sort([3, 1, 4], "desc") == [4, 3, 1]

sortBy(array, key[, order])

Sorts an array of maps by a specific key in ascending order. Optional order argument can be used to specify the order of sorting: asc or desc.

sortBy(users, "Age")
sortBy(users, "Age", "desc")

Map Functions

keys(map)

Returns an array containing the keys of the map.

keys({"name": "John", "age": 30}) == ["name", "age"]

values(map)

Returns an array containing the values of the map.

values({"name": "John", "age": 30}) == ["John", 30]

Type Conversion Functions

type(v)

Returns the type of the given value v. Returns on of the following types: nil, bool, int, uint, float, string, array, map. For named types and structs, the type name is returned.

type(42) == "int"
type("hello") == "string"
type(now()) == "time.Time"

int(v)

Returns the integer value of a number or a string.

int("123") == 123

float(v)

Returns the float value of a number or a string.

string(v)

Converts the given value v into a string representation.

string(123) == "123"

toJSON(v)

Converts the given value v to its JSON string representation.

toJSON({"name": "John", "age": 30})

fromJSON(v)

Parses the given JSON string v and returns the corresponding value.

fromJSON('{"name": "John", "age": 30}')

toBase64(v)

Encodes the string v into Base64 format.

toBase64("Hello World") == "SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ="

fromBase64(v)

Decodes the Base64 encoded string v back to its original form.

fromBase64("SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=") == "Hello World"

toPairs(map)

Converts a map to an array of key-value pairs.

toPairs({"name": "John", "age": 30}) == [["name", "John"], ["age", 30]]

fromPairs(array)

Converts an array of key-value pairs to a map.

fromPairs([["name", "John"], ["age", 30]]) == {"name": "John", "age": 30}

Miscellaneous Functions

len(v)

Returns the length of an array, a map or a string.

get(v, index)

Retrieves the element at the specified index from an array or map v. If the index is out of range, returns nil. Or the key does not exist, returns nil.

get([1, 2, 3], 1) == 2
get({"name": "John", "age": 30}, "name") == "John"

Predicate

The predicate is an expression. It takes one or more arguments and returns a boolean value. To access the arguments, the # symbol is used.

map(0..9, {# / 2})

If items of the array is a struct or a map, it is possible to access fields with omitted # symbol (#.Value becomes .Value).

filter(tweets, {len(.Value) > 280})

Braces { } can be omitted:

filter(tweets, len(.Value) > 280)

$env variable

The $env variable is a map of all variables passed to the expression.

foo.Name == $env["foo"].Name
$env["var with spaces"]