Dollar-sign expansion using a variable

Load script

Load the following data as an inline load in the data load editor:

Set x = 'red';  	// Assign the value "red" to variable x
Set y = 'blue'; 	 // Assign the value "blue" to variable y
Set z = '$(x) $(y)';    // Expands x and y, returns "red blue" in variable z

// Expand x and y, return "red green blue" in variable MyString

Let MyString='$(x)'&' green '&'$(y)';

// Create table MyTable, load variable values for x, y, z into fields X, Y, Z
// Concatenate with variable MyString into field NewString

MyTable:
Load '$(x)' as X, '$(y)' as Y, '$(z)' as Z, '$(MyString)' as NewString autogenerate 1;

For more information about using inline loads, see Using inline loads to load data.

Explanation

This example demonstrates:

• How to expand a variable in variable assignments.

• How to expand variables combined with a textual operations.

This is a useful setup for creating dynamic labels and general text strings that combine a variable content with static strings.

Output

Create the following table in Qlik Sense:

Load script

Load the following data as an inline load in the data load editor:

Set vFunction = 'upper';  // Assign the string “upper” to variable vFunction
Set vField = 'String';    // Assign the string "String" to variable vField
Let vEvaluate = '$(vFunction)'&'('&'$(vField)'&')';

// The variable vEvaluate returns the value "upper(string)"

MyTable: // Create table called MyTable
Load *, $(vEvaluate) as Upper;          // vEvaluate expanded as a dynamic expression
Load *, '$(vEvaluate)' as Expression;   // vEvaluate expanded as string
Load * inline [
ID, String
1, abc
2, def
3, ghi
4, jkl ];

Explanation

The Set and Letstatements are used to assign values to variables in the load script. The difference between the two is that the Setstatement assigns a string to the variable, while the Letstatement evaluates the content of the string before assigning the resultant value to the variable. The load inline table in this example is supplemented with two preceding load statements that are used to visualize different evaluations of the variable vEvaluate both as a text string and as the corresponding expression.

Output

Create the following table in Qlik Sense:

Load script

Load the following data as an inline load in the data load editor:

// Create table SalesByCountry
SalesByCountry:
Load * Inline [
Country, Year, Sales
Argentina, 2014, 66295.03
Argentina, 2015, 140037.89
Austria, 2014, 54166.09
Austria, 2015, 182739.87
Belgium, 2014, 182766.87
Belgium, 2015, 178042.33
Brazil, 2014, 174492.67
Brazil, 2015, 2104.22
Canada, 2014, 101801.33
Canada, 2015, 40288.25
Denmark, 2014, 45273.25
Denmark, 2015, 106938.41
Finland, 2014, 107565.55
Finland, 2015, 30583.44
France, 2014, 115644.26
France, 2015, 30696.98
Germany, 2014, 8775.18
Germany, 2015, 77185.68
];

Variables

In a sheet in edit mode, open the Variables dialog from the Assets panel.

Create the following variables:

Create KPI charts to see the expansions.

Load script

Load the following data as an inline load in the data load editor:

Set DecimalSep = ',';  // Set decimal comma as separator for this example.
Let X = 7/2;           // Assign the expression 7/2 to variable X.

MyTable:   // Create an inline table labeled “MyTable”
Load 1 as ID, * inline [  
DecimalComma	DecimalPoint
$(X)	$(#X) ] 
(delimiter is '\t'); 

Explanation

The #vVariable expansion always yields a valid decimal-point representation of the numeric value of the variable. This is useful when comma, rather than point is used as decimal separator and there is a risk of a conflict with comma separated lists.

The main reason for expanding these variables in a load-inline table is that no additional quoting of $(X) is required.

Output

Create the following table in Qlik Sense:

Load script

Load the following data as an inline load in the data load editor:

// The three Set statements below are required to mimic and initialize
// Format specifiers that are relevant to this particular example

Set ThousandSep=' '; 		// Set example thousand separator
Set DecimalSep=','; 		// Set example decimal separator
Set TimestampFormat='YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss';	 // Set example date format
Let vRaw = today()-1/1440;  		 // Timestamp minus one minute
Let vFormat = timestamp($(#vRaw));	 // Formatted as timestamp

// Create MyTable as an inline table to expand variables as field values
						
MyTable:
Load * inline [
DecimalComma	DecimalPoint	FormattedNumber
$(vRaw)	$(#vRaw)	$(vFormat) ] (delimiter is '\t');

Explanation

The #vVariable expansion always yields a valid decimal-point representation of the numeric value of the variable. This is useful when comma, rather than point is used as decimal separator and there is a risk of a conflict with comma separated lists. It is also important to note that the numerical precision will be affected due to the decimal part being truncated when variables are expanded without correct decimal separator.

The main reason for expanding these variables in a load-inline table is that no additional quoting of $(X) is required.

Output

Create the following table in Qlik Sense:

Load script

Load the following data as an inline load in the data load editor:

// The three Set statements below are required to mimic and initialize
// format specifiers that are relevant to this particular example

Set ThousandSep=' '; 		// Set example thousand separator
Set DecimalSep=','; 		// Set example decimal separator
Set TimestampFormat='YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss';	// Set example date format

// Assign a numerical value and a valid format specifier to vStart

Let vStart = timestamp#('2021-03-23 12:34:56','$(TimestampFormat)');

// Calculate timestamp (vStart + 3 hours) with valid decimal separator: "."

Let vStop = timestamp($(#vStart)+1/8,'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss');

// Create MyTable as an inline table to expand variables as field values

MyTable:
Load * inline [
StartTime	StopTime
$(vStart)	$(vStop) ] (delimiter is '\t');

// This is a tab delimited inline table
// Tab delimited tables are useful for avoiding conflicting list separators

Explanation

The #vVariable expansion always yields a valid decimal-point representation of the numeric value of the variable. This is useful when comma, rather than point is used as decimal separator and there is a risk of a conflict with comma separated lists. It is also important to note that the numerical precision will be affected due to the decimal part being truncated when variables are expanded without correct decimal separator.

The main reason for expanding these variables in a load-inline table is that no additional quoting of $(X) is required.

Output

Create the following table in Qlik Sense: