String functions are the type of calculations used to manipulate string data. For example, you might have a field that contains ‘Product Names’ with some of members of the field containing either a leading or a trailing space - you can use the string function TRIM () to remove any leading or trailing spaces.
E.g., TRIM ([Product Name])
Other string functions include.
1. CONTAINS Function
This function returns TRUE if the given string contains the specified substring.
Syntax: CONTAINS (string, substring)
Example: CONTAINS (“Tableau”, “Table”) =TRUE
2. SPLIT Function
This function returns a substring from a string, using a delimiter character to divide the string into a sequence of tokens.
Syntax: SPLIT (string, delimiter, token number)
Example: SPLIT (‘Rigor-Data-Solutions’, ‘-‘, 2) = ‘Data’
SPLIT (‘Rigor-Data-Solutions’, ’-’, -1) = ‘Solutions’
3. ASCII Function
This function returns the ASCII code for the first character of the string.
Syntax: ASCII (string)
Example: ASCII (“Apple”) =65
4. ENDSWITH Function
This function returns TRUE if the given string ends with the specified substring. Trailing spaces are ignored.
Syntax: ENDSWITH (string)
Example: ENDSWITH (“Tableau”, “eu”) = FALSE
5. STARTSWITH Function
This function returns TRUE if the given string starts with the specified substring. Leading spaces are ignored.
Syntax: STARTSWITH (string)
Example: STARTSWITH (“Tableau”, “Ta”) = TRUE
6. FINDNTH Function
This function returns the position of the nth occurrence of substring within the specified string, where n is defined by occurrence argument.
Syntax: FINDNTH (string, substring, occurrence)
Example: FINDNTH (‘Adrian’, ‘a’, 2) = 5
7. LEFT Function
This function returns the left most number of characters in the string.
Syntax: LEFT (string, number)
Example: LEFT (‘Tableau’, 5) = ‘Table’
8. RIGHT Function
This function returns the right most number of characters in the string.
Syntax: RIGHT (string, number)
Example: RIGHT (‘Tableau Desktop’, 7) = ‘Desktop’
9. LEN Function
This function returns the length of the string.
Syntax: LEN (string)
Example: LEN (‘Salesforce’) = 10
10. LOWER Function
This function returns the string with all characters in lowercase.
Syntax: LOWER (string)
Example: LOWER (‘Tableau Desktop’) = ‘tableau desktop’
11. UPPER Function
This function returns the string with all characters in uppercase.
Syntax: UPPER (string)
Example: UPPER (‘Tableau Public’) = ‘TABLEAU PUBLIC’
12. REPLACE Function
This function searches a string for a substring and replaces it with a replacement. If the substring is not found, the default string is returned.
Syntax: REPLACE (string, substring, replacement)
Example: REPLACE (‘Tableau Desktop’, ‘Desktop’, ‘Online’) = ‘Tableau Online’
13. LTRIM Function
This function returns the string with any leading spaces removed.
Syntax: LTRIM (string)
Example: LTRIM (“ Tableau “) = “Tableau ”
14. RTRIM Function
This function returns the string with any trailing spaces removed.
Syntax: RTRIM (string)
Example: RTRIM (“ Tableau “) = “ Tableau”
15. TRIM Function
This function returns the string with any leading or trailing spaces removed.
Syntax: TRIM (string)
Example: TRIM (“ Tableau “) = “Tableau”
More string functions can be accessed on the calculated field editor – by selecting ‘String’ on the side menu.
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