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Common @Functions in IDEA

Explore Popular @Functions to Perform Complex Operations


FUNCTIONS FUNCTIONALITY EXAMPLES
@age( ) Returns the number of days between two specified dates. Note: both dates must be a “Date” field type FieldName1 = “20111230” FieldName2 = “20111220” thus using: @age(FieldName1, FieldName2) yields the result: 10 (10 day difference) (Make sure that the altest date is FieldName1)
@compif( ) A conditional statement which tests for multiple conditions and provides results depending on the outcome. Very helpful when stringing together multiple “if” statements. FieldName = “NAME” thus using: @compif(NAME=”Bob”, 1, NAME=”Tom”, 2, NAME=”Ann”, 3) will return 1, 2 or 3 depending on if the NAME field contains Bob, Tom or Ann.
@ctod( ) Converts a field containing dates stored as a character field type into a Date field type in IDEA’s Date format. FieldName = “12/20/11” thus using: @ctod(FieldName, “MM/DD/YY”)  yields the result: “20111220” (difference is this is now a date field type and no longer a character string and is accepted in functions requiring Date arguments.) Note the order of YYYYMMDD with the absence of extraneous separators. IDEA stores dates in this fasion, though they will appear as MM/DD/YYYY.
@getnextvalue( ) Returns the value of the next record from the specified field,
starting with the first record.
ColumnOne = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | ColumnTwo = @getnextvalue(“ColumnOne”), so it will contain
values: 2, 3, 4, 5, 0
(For parallel columns, this will fill each row of the current column with the value of the
row below from the corresponding column.)
@getpreviousvalue() Returns the value in the preceding record for the specified
field, starting with the first record.
ColumnOne = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | ColumnTwo = @getpreviousvalue(“ColumnOne”), so it will
contain values: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
(For parallel columns, this will fill each row of the current column with the value of the
row above it from the corresponding column.)
@if( ) Tests a specified condition and if the result is true then it
will return the first result (true), otherwise it returns the
second result (false).
@if(10 > 6, “10 is larger than 6”, “10 is less than 6”) yields the result: “10 is larger than
6.” First part accepts the values to test with a relational operator in between (>, <, =, ==,
<>, <=, >=), second part is the result if the test is true (in this case 10 is greater than 6, so
it outputs the second item.), last part results if the test were to return false.
@isini( ) Searches for the occurrence of a specified character string
(of any case) in a character field or date field. If appending a
field and the string is found, it returns the starting position
of the specified character string; otherwise, a 0 is returned.
If used in an extraction, the record is extracted if the
character string is found.
FieldName = “sample string”
thus using: @isini(“mpl “, FieldName) in an appended field yields the result: 3
(determined the position where the string began); in an extraction the record is extracted.
@justletters( ) Returns characters, spaces and special characters from the
character string or field by removing any numbers.
FieldName = “23W45 E% $R#T”
thus using: @justletters(FieldName) will yield: “W E% $R#T”
@justnumbers( ) Returns only the numbers from the specified character
string or field.
FieldName = “W987DTR^3&*%”
thus using: @justnumbers(FieldName) will yield: 9873
@left( ) Returns the specified number of leftmost characters from
the beginning of the character field.
FieldName = “word”
thus using: @left(FieldName, 2) will yield: “wo”
@len( ) Reviews a character expression and returns the length of
the character string, including spaces.
FieldName = “this sentence has 31 characters”
thus using: @len(FieldName) will yield: 31
@lower( ) Converts a character field into lower case. FieldName = “UPPER CASE”
thus using: @lower(FieldName) will yield: “upper case”
@mid( ) Extracts a sub-string of a character field. You will need
to specify the character field, the starting position of the
sub-string within the character field and the number of
characters.
FieldName = “my phrase”
thus using: @mid(FieldName, 2, 6) will yield: “y phra”
@reverse( ) Reverses a string of characters. FieldName = “Left to right”
thus using: @reverse(FieldName) will yield: “thgir ot tfeL”
@right( ) Identifies the specified number of rightmost characters in
the character field.
FieldName = “word”
thus using: @right(FieldName, 2) will yield: “rd”
@spacestoone( ) Removes all extra spaces from a cell, leaving a single space
between phrases.
FieldName = “ too many spaces “
thus using: @spacestoone(FieldName) will yield: “too many spaces”
@spanexcluding( ) Returns the characters in a field from the first character up
to, but not including, the character specified.
FieldName = “My Sentence”
thus using: @spanexcluding(FieldName, “ “) will yield: “My”
@simplesplit( ) Breaks a character string into segments by breaking on
a specified character or character string(such as :,/,-,…)
within the string and returns a specified segment.
FieldName= “123-45-6789”
thus using: @simplesplit(FieldName,”-”,1,”-”) will yield “45”. The first “-” tells it
what the starting separator is. The 1 tells it to grab the first segment that starts
with a “-” and ends with a “-”. The second “-” tells it what the ending separator is.
@str( ) Converts a number stored as a numeric data type into
a character data type.
FieldName = 12345
thus using: @str(FieldName,5,0) will yield: “12345”. The 5 is the length of the
string and the 0 is the decimals required. Use @alltrim() around this function to
left justify the content in the new field.
@strip( ) Removes all spaces, punctuation and special characters
from a text field leaving a string of characters and numbers.
FieldName = “-109A B,V=$%”
thus using: @strip(FieldName) will yield: “109ABV”
@upper( ) Converts a character field into upper case. FieldName = “lower case”
thus using: @upper(FieldName) will yield: “LOWER CASE”
@val( ) Converts a number stored as a character data type
to a numeric data type. Useful when a field contains
numbers which need to be used to perform calculations.
FieldName=”123AB4” (as a character field)
thus using: @val(FieldName) will yield: “123” in a numeric field.

If you get stuck along the way, use our “20 Minute Rule,” which is designed to save you time and effort. If it takes you more than 20 minutes to utilize any IDEA function or feature, contact us for assistance – 888.641.2800 x4 – [email protected]

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CaseWare IDEA , Tech Tip



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