nPath Syntax Elements - Analytics Database

Database Analytic Functions

Deployment

VantageCloud

VantageCore

Edition

Enterprise

IntelliFlex

VMware

Product

Analytics Database

Release Number

17.20

Published

June 2022

Language

English (United States)

Last Update

2024-10-04

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Product Category

Teradata Vantage™

Mode

Specify the pattern-matching mode:

Option	Description
OVERLAPPING	Find every occurrence of pattern in partition, regardless of whether it is part of a previously found match. One row can match multiple symbols in a given matched pattern.
NONOVERLAPPING	Start next pattern search at row that follows last pattern match.

Pattern

Specify the pattern for which the function searches. You compose pattern with the symbols (which you define in the Symbols syntax element), operators, and parentheses.

When patterns have multiple operators, the function applies them in order of precedence, and applies operators of equal precedence from left to right. To force the function to evaluate a subpattern first, enclose it in parentheses. For more information, see nPath Patterns.

Symbols

Defines the symbols that appear in the values of the Pattern and Result syntax elements. The col_expr is an expression whose value is a column name, symbol is any valid identifier, and symbol_predicate is a SQL predicate (often a column name).

Each col_expr = symbol_predicate must satisfy the SQL syntax of the Analytics Database when nPath is invoked. Otherwise, it is a syntax error.

For example, this Symbols syntax element is for analyzing website visits:

Symbols (
  pagetype = 'homepage' AS H,
  pagetype <> 'homepage' AND pagetype <> 'checkout' AS PP,
  pagetype = 'checkout' AS CO
)

The symbol is case-insensitive; however, a symbol of one or two uppercase letters is easy to identify in patterns.

If col_expr represents a column that appears in multiple input tables, you must qualify the ambiguous column name with its table name. For example:

Symbols (
  weblog.pagetype = 'homepage' AS H,
  weblog.pagetype = 'thankyou' AS T,
  ads.adname = 'xmaspromo' AS X,
  ads.adname = 'realtorpromo' AS R
)

For more information about symbols that appear in the Pattern syntax element value, see nPath Symbols. For more information about symbols that appear in the Result syntax element value, see nPath Results.

Filter

[Optional] Specify filters to impose on the matched rows. The function combines the filter expressions using the AND operator.

This is the filter_expression syntax:

symbol_expression comparison_operator symbol_expression

The two symbol expressions must be type-compatible. This is the symbol_expression syntax:

{ FIRST | LAST }(column_with_expression OF [ANY](symbol[,...]))

The column_with_expression cannot contain the operator AND or OR, and all its columns must come from the same input. If the function has multiple inputs, column_with_expression and symbol must come from the same input.

The comparison_operator is either <, >, <=, >=, =, or <>.

Result

Defines the output columns. The col_expr is an expression whose value is a column name; it specifies the values to retrieve from the matched rows. The function applies aggregate_function to these values. For details, see nPath Results.

The function evaluates this syntax element once for every matched pattern in the partition (that is, it outputs one row for each pattern match).