Q Language - Built-in Functions

The q programming language has a set of rich and powerful built-in functions. A built-in function can be of the following types −

String function − Takes a string as input and returns a string.

Aggregate function − Takes a pst as input and returns an atom.

Uniform function − Takes a pst and returns a pst of the same count.

Mathematical function − Takes numeric argument and returns a numeric argument.

Miscellaneous function − All functions other than above mentioned.

String Functions

Like − pattern matching

q)/pke is a dyadic, performs pattern matching, return 1b on success else 0b

q)"John" pke "J??n"
1b

q)"John My Name" pke "J*"
1b

ltrim − removes leading blanks

q)/ ltrim - monadic ltrim takes string argument, removes leading blanks

q)ltrim " Rick "
"Rick "

rtrim − removes traipng blanks

q)/rtrim - takes string argument, returns the result of removing traipng blanks

q)rtrim " Rick "
" Rick"

ss − string search

q)/ss - string search, perform pattern matching, same as "pke" but return the indices of the matches of the pattern in source.

q)"Life is beautiful" ss "i"
1 5 13

trim − removes leading and traipng blanks

q)/trim - takes string argument, returns the result of removing leading & traipng blanks

q)trim " John "
"John"

Mathematical Functions

acos − inverse of cos

q)/acos - inverse of cos, for input between -1 and 1, return float between 0 and pi

q)acos 1
0f

q)acos -1
3.141593

q)acos 0
1.570796

cor − gives correlation

q)/cor - the dyadic takes two numeric psts of same count, returns a correlation between the items of the two arguments

q)27 18 18 9 0 cor 27 36 45 54 63
-0.9707253

cross − Cartesian product

q)/cross - takes atoms or psts as arguments and returns their Cartesian product

q)9 18 cross `x`y`z

9 `x
9 `y
9 `z

18 `x
18 `y
18 `z

var − variance

q)/var - monadic, takes a scaler or numeric pst and returns a float equal to the mathematical variance of the items

q)var 45
0f

q)var 9 18 27 36
101.25

wavg

q)/wavg - dyadic, takes two numeric psts of the same count and returns the average of the second argument weighted by the first argument.

q)1 2 3 4 wavg 200 300 400 500
400f

Aggregate Functions

all − & operation

q)/all - monadic, takes a scaler or pst of numeric type and returns the result of & appped across the items.

q)all 0b
0b

q)all 9 18 27 36
1b

q)all 10 20 30
1b

Any − | operation

q)/any - monadic, takes scaler or pst of numeric type and the return the result of | appped across the items

q)any 20 30 40 50
1b

q)any 20012.02.12 2013.03.11
 20012.02.12

prd − arithmetic product

q)/prd - monadic, takes scaler, pst, dictionary or table of numeric type and returns the arithmetic product.

q)prd `x`y`z! 10 20 30
6000

q)prd ((1 2; 3 4);(10 20; 30 40))

10 40
90 160

Sum − arithmetic sum

q)/sum - monadic, takes a scaler, pst,dictionary or table of numeric type and returns the arithmetic sum.

q)sum 2 3 4 5 6
20

q)sum (1 2; 4 5)
5 7

Uniform Functions

Deltas − difference from its previous item.

q)/deltas -takes a scalar, pst, dictionary or table and returns the difference of each item from its predecessor.

q)deltas 2 3 5 7 9
2 1 2 2 2

q)deltas `x`y`z!9 18 27

x | 9
y | 9
z | 9

fills − fills nulls value

q)/fills - takes scalar, pst, dictionary or table of numeric type and returns a c copy of the source in which non-null items are propagated forward to fill nulls

q)fills 1 0N 2 0N 4
1 1 2 2 4

q)fills `a`b`c`d! 10 0N 30 0N

a | 10
b | 10
c | 30
d | 30

maxs − cumulative maximum

q)/maxs - takes scalar, pst, dictionary or table and returns the cumulative maximum of the source items.

q)maxs 1 2 4 3 9 13 2
1 2 4 4 9 13 13

q)maxs `a`b`c`d!9 18 0 36

a | 9
b | 18
c | 18
d | 36

Miscellaneous Functions

Count − return number of element

q)/count - returns the number of entities in its argument.

q)count 10 30 30
3

q)count (til 9)
9

q)count ([]a:9 18 27;b:1.1 2.2 3.3)
3

Distinct − return distinct entities

q)/distinct - monadic, returns the distinct entities in its argument

q)distinct 1 2 3 4 2 3 4 5 6 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 9

Except − element not present in second arg.

q)/except - takes a simple pst (target) as its first argument and returns a pst containing the items of target that are not in its second argument

q)1 2 3 4 3 1 except 1
2 3 4 3

fill − fill null with first argument

q)/fill (^) - takes an atom as its first argument and a pst(target) as its second argument and return a pst obtained by substituting the first argument for every occurrence of null in target

q)42^ 9 18 0N 27 0N 36
9 18 42 27 42 36

q)";"^"Life is Beautiful"
"Life;is;Beautiful"