Array functions in Google Standard SQL

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Google Standard SQL for Spanner supports the following array functions.

ARRAY

ARRAY(subquery)

Description

The ARRAY function returns an ARRAY with one element for each row in a subquery.

If subquery produces a SQL table, the table must have exactly one column. Each element in the output ARRAY is the value of the single column of a row in the table.

If subquery produces a value table, then each element in the output ARRAY is the entire corresponding row of the value table.

Constraints

  • Subqueries are unordered, so the elements of the output ARRAY are not guaranteed to preserve any order in the source table for the subquery. However, if the subquery includes an ORDER BY clause, the ARRAY function will return an ARRAY that honors that clause.
  • If the subquery returns more than one column, the ARRAY function returns an error.
  • If the subquery returns an ARRAY typed column or ARRAY typed rows, the ARRAY function returns an error that Google Standard SQL does not support ARRAYs with elements of type ARRAY.
  • If the subquery returns zero rows, the ARRAY function returns an empty ARRAY. It never returns a NULL ARRAY.

Return type

ARRAY

Examples

SELECT ARRAY
  (SELECT 1 UNION ALL
   SELECT 2 UNION ALL
   SELECT 3) AS new_array;

+-----------+
| new_array |
+-----------+
| [1, 2, 3] |
+-----------+

To construct an ARRAY from a subquery that contains multiple columns, change the subquery to use SELECT AS STRUCT. Now the ARRAY function will return an ARRAY of STRUCTs. The ARRAY will contain one STRUCT for each row in the subquery, and each of these STRUCTs will contain a field for each column in that row.

SELECT
  ARRAY
    (SELECT AS STRUCT 1, 2, 3
     UNION ALL SELECT AS STRUCT 4, 5, 6) AS new_array;

+------------------------+
| new_array              |
+------------------------+
| [{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}] |
+------------------------+

Similarly, to construct an ARRAY from a subquery that contains one or more ARRAYs, change the subquery to use SELECT AS STRUCT.

SELECT ARRAY
  (SELECT AS STRUCT [1, 2, 3] UNION ALL
   SELECT AS STRUCT [4, 5, 6]) AS new_array;

+----------------------------+
| new_array                  |
+----------------------------+
| [{[1, 2, 3]}, {[4, 5, 6]}] |
+----------------------------+

ARRAY_CONCAT

ARRAY_CONCAT(array_expression[, ...])

Description

Concatenates one or more arrays with the same element type into a single array.

The function returns NULL if any input argument is NULL.

Return type

ARRAY

Examples

SELECT ARRAY_CONCAT([1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]) as count_to_six;

+--------------------------------------------------+
| count_to_six                                     |
+--------------------------------------------------+
| [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]                               |
+--------------------------------------------------+

ARRAY_FIRST

ARRAY_FIRST(array_expression)

Description

Takes an array and returns the first element in the array.

Produces an error if the array is empty.

Returns NULL if array_expression is NULL.

Return type

Matches the data type of elements in array_expression.

Example

SELECT ARRAY_FIRST(['a','b','c','d']) as first_element

+---------------+
| first_element |
+---------------+
| a             |
+---------------+

ARRAY_LAST

ARRAY_LAST(array_expression)

Description

Takes an array and returns the last element in the array.

Produces an error if the array is empty.

Returns NULL if array_expression is NULL.

Return type

Matches the data type of elements in array_expression.

Example

SELECT ARRAY_LAST(['a','b','c','d']) as last_element

+---------------+
| last_element  |
+---------------+
| d             |
+---------------+

ARRAY_LENGTH

ARRAY_LENGTH(array_expression)

Description

Returns the size of the array. Returns 0 for an empty array. Returns NULL if the array_expression is NULL.

Return type

INT64

Examples

WITH items AS
  (SELECT ["coffee", NULL, "milk" ] as list
  UNION ALL
  SELECT ["cake", "pie"] as list)
SELECT ARRAY_TO_STRING(list, ', ', 'NULL'), ARRAY_LENGTH(list) AS size
FROM items
ORDER BY size DESC;

+--------------------+------+
| list               | size |
+--------------------+------+
| coffee, NULL, milk | 3    |
| cake, pie          | 2    |
+--------------------+------+

ARRAY_SLICE

ARRAY_SLICE(array_to_slice, start_offset, end_offset)

Description

Returns an array containing zero or more consecutive elements from the input array.

  • array_to_slice: The array that contains the elements you want to slice.
  • start_offset: The inclusive starting offset.
  • end_offset: The inclusive ending offset.

An offset can be positive or negative. A positive offset starts from the beginning of the input array and is 0-based. A negative offset starts from the end of the input array. Out-of-bounds offsets are supported. Here are some examples:

Input offset Final offset in array Notes
0 ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'] The final offset is 0.
3 ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'] The final offset is 3.
5 ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'] Because the input offset is out of bounds, the final offset is 3 (array length - 1).
-1 ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'] Because a negative offset is used, the offset starts at the end of the array. The final offset is 3 (array length - 1).
-2 ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'] Because a negative offset is used, the offset starts at the end of the array. The final offset is 2 (array length - 2).
-4 ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'] Because a negative offset is used, the offset starts at the end of the array. The final offset is 0 (array length - 4).
-5 ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'] Because the offset is negative and out of bounds, the final offset is 0 (array length - array length).

Additional details:

  • The input array can contain NULL elements. NULL elements are included in the resulting array.
  • Returns NULL if array_to_slice, start_offset, or end_offset is NULL.
  • Returns an empty array if array_to_slice is empty.
  • Returns an empty array if the position of the start_offset in the array is after the position of the end_offset.

Return type

ARRAY

Examples

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], 1, 3) AS result

+-----------+
| result    |
+-----------+
| [b, c, d] |
+-----------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], -1, 3) AS result

+-----------+
| result    |
+-----------+
| []        |
+-----------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], 1, -3) AS result

+--------+
| result |
+--------+
| [b, c] |
+--------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], -1, -3) AS result

+-----------+
| result    |
+-----------+
| []        |
+-----------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], -3, -1) AS result

+-----------+
| result    |
+-----------+
| [c, d, e] |
+-----------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], 3, 3) AS result

+--------+
| result |
+--------+
| [d]    |
+--------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], -3, -3) AS result

+--------+
| result |
+--------+
| [c]    |
+--------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], 1, 30) AS result

+--------------+
| result       |
+--------------+
| [b, c, d, e] |
+--------------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], 1, -30) AS result

+-----------+
| result    |
+-----------+
| []        |
+-----------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], -30, 30) AS result

+-----------------+
| result          |
+-----------------+
| [a, b, c, d, e] |
+-----------------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], -30, -5) AS result

+--------+
| result |
+--------+
| [a]    |
+--------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], 5, 30) AS result

+--------+
| result |
+--------+
| []     |
+--------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], 1, NULL) AS result

+-----------+
| result    |
+-----------+
| NULL      |
+-----------+

SELECT ARRAY_SLICE(['a', 'b', NULL, 'd', 'e'], 1, 3) AS result

+--------------+
| result       |
+--------------+
| [b, NULL, d] |
+--------------+

ARRAY_TO_STRING

ARRAY_TO_STRING(array_expression, delimiter[, null_text])

Description

Returns a concatenation of the elements in array_expression as a STRING. The value for array_expression can either be an array of STRING or BYTES data types.

If the null_text parameter is used, the function replaces any NULL values in the array with the value of null_text.

If the null_text parameter is not used, the function omits the NULL value and its preceding delimiter.

Return type

STRING

Examples

WITH items AS
  (SELECT ['coffee', 'tea', 'milk' ] as list
  UNION ALL
  SELECT ['cake', 'pie', NULL] as list)

SELECT ARRAY_TO_STRING(list, '--') AS text
FROM items;

+--------------------------------+
| text                           |
+--------------------------------+
| coffee--tea--milk              |
| cake--pie                      |
+--------------------------------+

WITH items AS
  (SELECT ['coffee', 'tea', 'milk' ] as list
  UNION ALL
  SELECT ['cake', 'pie', NULL] as list)

SELECT ARRAY_TO_STRING(list, '--', 'MISSING') AS text
FROM items;

+--------------------------------+
| text                           |
+--------------------------------+
| coffee--tea--milk              |
| cake--pie--MISSING             |
+--------------------------------+

GENERATE_ARRAY

GENERATE_ARRAY(start_expression, end_expression[, step_expression])

Description

Returns an array of values. The start_expression and end_expression parameters determine the inclusive start and end of the array.

The GENERATE_ARRAY function accepts the following data types as inputs:

  • INT64
  • NUMERIC
  • FLOAT64

The step_expression parameter determines the increment used to generate array values. The default value for this parameter is 1.

This function returns an error if step_expression is set to 0, or if any input is NaN.

If any argument is NULL, the function will return a NULL array.

Return Data Type

ARRAY

Examples

The following returns an array of integers, with a default step of 1.

SELECT GENERATE_ARRAY(1, 5) AS example_array;

+-----------------+
| example_array   |
+-----------------+
| [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] |
+-----------------+

The following returns an array using a user-specified step size.

SELECT GENERATE_ARRAY(0, 10, 3) AS example_array;

+---------------+
| example_array |
+---------------+
| [0, 3, 6, 9]  |
+---------------+

The following returns an array using a negative value, -3 for its step size.

SELECT GENERATE_ARRAY(10, 0, -3) AS example_array;

+---------------+
| example_array |
+---------------+
| [10, 7, 4, 1] |
+---------------+

The following returns an array using the same value for the start_expression and end_expression.

SELECT GENERATE_ARRAY(4, 4, 10) AS example_array;

+---------------+
| example_array |
+---------------+
| [4]           |
+---------------+

The following returns an empty array, because the start_expression is greater than the end_expression, and the step_expression value is positive.

SELECT GENERATE_ARRAY(10, 0, 3) AS example_array;

+---------------+
| example_array |
+---------------+
| []            |
+---------------+

The following returns a NULL array because end_expression is NULL.

SELECT GENERATE_ARRAY(5, NULL, 1) AS example_array;

+---------------+
| example_array |
+---------------+
| NULL          |
+---------------+

The following returns multiple arrays.

SELECT GENERATE_ARRAY(start, 5) AS example_array
FROM UNNEST([3, 4, 5]) AS start;

+---------------+
| example_array |
+---------------+
| [3, 4, 5]     |
| [4, 5]        |
| [5]           |
+---------------+

GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY

GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY(start_date, end_date[, INTERVAL INT64_expr date_part])

Description

Returns an array of dates. The start_date and end_date parameters determine the inclusive start and end of the array.

The GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY function accepts the following data types as inputs:

  • start_date must be a DATE.
  • end_date must be a DATE.
  • INT64_expr must be an INT64.
  • date_part must be either DAY, WEEK, MONTH, QUARTER, or YEAR.

The INT64_expr parameter determines the increment used to generate dates. The default value for this parameter is 1 day.

This function returns an error if INT64_expr is set to 0.

Return Data Type

ARRAY containing 0 or more DATE values.

Examples

The following returns an array of dates, with a default step of 1.

SELECT GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY('2016-10-05', '2016-10-08') AS example;

+--------------------------------------------------+
| example                                          |
+--------------------------------------------------+
| [2016-10-05, 2016-10-06, 2016-10-07, 2016-10-08] |
+--------------------------------------------------+

The following returns an array using a user-specified step size.

SELECT GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY(
 '2016-10-05', '2016-10-09', INTERVAL 2 DAY) AS example;

+--------------------------------------+
| example                              |
+--------------------------------------+
| [2016-10-05, 2016-10-07, 2016-10-09] |
+--------------------------------------+

The following returns an array using a negative value, -3 for its step size.

SELECT GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY('2016-10-05',
  '2016-10-01', INTERVAL -3 DAY) AS example;

+--------------------------+
| example                  |
+--------------------------+
| [2016-10-05, 2016-10-02] |
+--------------------------+

The following returns an array using the same value for the start_dateand end_date.

SELECT GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY('2016-10-05',
  '2016-10-05', INTERVAL 8 DAY) AS example;

+--------------+
| example      |
+--------------+
| [2016-10-05] |
+--------------+

The following returns an empty array, because the start_date is greater than the end_date, and the step value is positive.

SELECT GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY('2016-10-05',
  '2016-10-01', INTERVAL 1 DAY) AS example;

+---------+
| example |
+---------+
| []      |
+---------+

The following returns a NULL array, because one of its inputs is NULL.

SELECT GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY('2016-10-05', NULL) AS example;

+---------+
| example |
+---------+
| NULL    |
+---------+

The following returns an array of dates, using MONTH as the date_part interval:

SELECT GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY('2016-01-01',
  '2016-12-31', INTERVAL 2 MONTH) AS example;

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| example                                                                  |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [2016-01-01, 2016-03-01, 2016-05-01, 2016-07-01, 2016-09-01, 2016-11-01] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

The following uses non-constant dates to generate an array.

SELECT GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY(date_start, date_end, INTERVAL 1 WEEK) AS date_range
FROM (
  SELECT DATE '2016-01-01' AS date_start, DATE '2016-01-31' AS date_end
  UNION ALL SELECT DATE "2016-04-01", DATE "2016-04-30"
  UNION ALL SELECT DATE "2016-07-01", DATE "2016-07-31"
  UNION ALL SELECT DATE "2016-10-01", DATE "2016-10-31"
) AS items;

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| date_range                                                   |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| [2016-01-01, 2016-01-08, 2016-01-15, 2016-01-22, 2016-01-29] |
| [2016-04-01, 2016-04-08, 2016-04-15, 2016-04-22, 2016-04-29] |
| [2016-07-01, 2016-07-08, 2016-07-15, 2016-07-22, 2016-07-29] |
| [2016-10-01, 2016-10-08, 2016-10-15, 2016-10-22, 2016-10-29] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

ARRAY_REVERSE

ARRAY_REVERSE(value)

Description

Returns the input ARRAY with elements in reverse order.

Return type

ARRAY

Examples

WITH example AS (
  SELECT [1, 2, 3] AS arr UNION ALL
  SELECT [4, 5] AS arr UNION ALL
  SELECT [] AS arr
)
SELECT
  arr,
  ARRAY_REVERSE(arr) AS reverse_arr
FROM example;

+-----------+-------------+
| arr       | reverse_arr |
+-----------+-------------+
| [1, 2, 3] | [3, 2, 1]   |
| [4, 5]    | [5, 4]      |
| []        | []          |
+-----------+-------------+

ARRAY_IS_DISTINCT

ARRAY_IS_DISTINCT(value)

Description

Returns TRUE if the array contains no repeated elements, using the same equality comparison logic as SELECT DISTINCT.

Return type

BOOL

Examples

WITH example AS (
  SELECT [1, 2, 3] AS arr UNION ALL
  SELECT [1, 1, 1] AS arr UNION ALL
  SELECT [1, 2, NULL] AS arr UNION ALL
  SELECT [1, 1, NULL] AS arr UNION ALL
  SELECT [1, NULL, NULL] AS arr UNION ALL
  SELECT [] AS arr UNION ALL
  SELECT CAST(NULL AS ARRAY<INT64>) AS arr
)
SELECT
  arr,
  ARRAY_IS_DISTINCT(arr) as is_distinct
FROM example;

+-----------------+-------------+
| arr             | is_distinct |
+-----------------+-------------+
| [1, 2, 3]       | TRUE        |
| [1, 1, 1]       | FALSE       |
| [1, 2, NULL]    | TRUE        |
| [1, 1, NULL]    | FALSE       |
| [1, NULL, NULL] | FALSE       |
| []              | TRUE        |
| NULL            | NULL        |
+-----------------+-------------+

OFFSET and ORDINAL

For information about using OFFSET and ORDINAL with arrays, see Array subscript operator and Accessing array elements.