Use Arcade expressions

Arcade is a portable, lightweight, and secure expression language written for use in the ArcGIS platform that can perform mathematical calculations, manipulate text, and evaluate logical statements. It also supports multi-statement expressions, variables, and flow control statements. What makes Arcade particularly unique to other expression and scripting languages is its inclusion of feature and geometry data types. A common use of Arcade is for performing a calculation with layer fields and geometry.

Mathematical operator and function examples

Expressions are able to mathematically process numbers. The table below shows a sample of available operations. For more information about mathematical operations in Arcade, see Mathematical functions.

Operator	Explanation	Example	Result
a + b	a plus b.	fieldname contains a value of 1.5 $target["fieldname"] + 2.5	4.0
a - b	a minus b.	fieldname contains a value of 3.3 $target["fieldname"]- 2.2	1.1
a * b	a times b.	fieldname contains a value of 2.0 $join["fieldname"] * 2.2	4.4
a / b	a divided by b.	fieldname contains a value of 4.0 $join["fieldname"] / 1.25	3.2
abs( a )	Returns the absolute (positive) value of a.	fieldname contains a value of -1.5 abs($target["fieldname"])	1.5
log( a )	Returns the natural logarithm (base E) of a.	fieldname contains a value of 1 log($join["fieldname"])	0
sin( a )	Returns the trigonometric sine of a. The input is assumed to be an angle in radians.	fieldname contains a value of 1.5707 sin($target["fieldname"])	1
cos( a )	Returns the trigonometric cosine of a. The input is assumed to be an angle in radians.	fieldname contains a value of 0 cos($join["fieldname"])	1
tan( a )	Returns the tangent of a. The input is assumed to be an angle in radians.	fieldname contains a value of 0 tan($target["fieldname"])	0
sqrt( a )	Returns the square root of a.	fieldname contains a value of 9 sqrt($join["fieldname"])	3
min( a, b )	Returns the lowest-valued number between a and b.	fieldname contains a value of 1.5 and a value of -3 min($join["fieldname"], -3)	-3
max( a, b )	Returns the highest-valued number between a or b.	fieldname1 contains a value of 1.5 and fieldname2 contains a value of -3 max($target["fieldname1"], $join["fieldname2"])	1.5
constrain(<value>,<low>,<high>)	Returns the input value if it is within the constraining bounds. If the input value is less than the low value, it returns the low value. If the input value is greater than the high value, it returns the high value.	constrain($target["distance"], 0, 10) constrain($join['Store dist'], 6, distance)	Returns 0 if distance is less than 0, 10 if distance is greater than 10, and distance otherwise. Returns 6 if Store dist is less than 6, distance if Store dist is greater than distance , and Store dist otherwise.

Multiplication example for a join condition expression using a field from the target dataset:

$target["Distance"] * 2 > $join["DistField"]

Text function examples

Arcade expressions are able to process text. The following table shows a sample of available operations. To learn more about text functions in Arcade, see Text Functions.

Operator	Explanation	Example	Result
concatenate( <values>, <separator>)	Concatenates values together and returns a string. values - An array of string values to concatenate. separator (optional) - A separator to use for concatenation if the values parameter is an array or a string to concatenate if a single value is provided for the first parameter. If not provided, it will be empty.	fieldname contains a value of Analytics for IoT concatenate([$target["fieldname"], "is", "great!"], ' ')	Analytics for IoT is great!
find(<searchText>, <text>, <startPos>)	Finds a string within a string. Wildcards are not supported. searchText - The substring to search for. text - The text to search. startPos (optional) - The zero-based index of the location in the string to search from.	fieldname1 contains a value of 14NorthStreet and fieldname2 contains a value of North find($target["fieldname2"], $join["fieldname1"])	2
lower(<value>)	Makes a string lowercase. value - The string to be made lowercase.	fieldname contains a value of ANALYTICS lower($join["fieldname"])	analytics

Text example using find and lower:

find(("north"), lower("146NorthStreet")) == False

Date function examples

Arcade is able to process dates. The following table shows a sample of available operations. To learn more about date functions in Arcade, see Date Functions.

In Arcade, month values range from 0 (January) to 11 (December), days from 1 to 31, hours from 0 (12:00 a.m.) to 23 (11:00 p.m.), minutes and seconds from 0 to 59, and milliseconds from 0 to 999. Arcade dates return time values in the location of your (Analytics for IoT cluster?).

Operator	Explanation	Example	Result
date( <value>, <month>, <day>, <hour>, <minute>)	Parses a value or set of values into a date string. value (optional) - Either the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970 UTC or a number representing a year. If a year is specified, the month and day must also be provided in subsequent parameters. This value may also be a date string or an ISO 8601 string to be converted into a date. month (optional) - The month (0-11), where 0 is January and 11 is December. day (optional) - The day of the month (1-31). hour (optional) - The hour of the day (0-23). minute (optional) - The minute of the hour (0-59). second (optional) - The second of the minute (0-59). millisecond (optional) - The millisecond of the second (0-999).	fieldname contains a value of 1476987783555 Example 1: Date($target["fieldname"]) Example 2: Date(2017,0,14,0) Example 3: Date()	Example 1: 20 Oct 2016 11:23:03 am Example 2: 14 Jan 2017 12:00:00 am Example 3: Returns the current time
DateDiff(<date1>, <date2>, <units>)	Subtracts two dates and returns the difference in the specified units. date1 - The date value from which to subtract a second date. date2 - The date value to subtract from the first given date. startpos (optional) - The units in which to return the difference of the two given dates. The supported unit types include milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years. The default value is milliseconds.	Example 1: DateDiff(Date(2017,1,14,0), Date()) Example 2: DateDiff(Date(2017,1,14,0), Date(), "Years")	Result will vary depending on when you run this command. Example 1: -20532129137 Example 2: -0.6546783768647119
Year(<dateValue>)	Returns the year of the given date. value - A date value from which to get the year.	Example 1: fieldname is a field of type Date with a value of value of 09 Oct 2017 04:30:43 pm Year($join["fieldname"]) Example 2: fieldname is a string field formatted as an ISO 8601 string with a value of 2012-09-27 Example 2: fieldname is a string field formatted as an ISO 8601 string with a value of Year(Date($target["fieldname"]))	Example 1: 2017 Example 2: 2012

Conditional operators

Conditional statements can use the following operators:

Operator	Explanation	Example	Results
a > b a < b	a is greater than b a is less than b	10 > 2	False
a >= b a <= b	a is greater than or equal to b a is less than or equal to b	abs(-10) >= 10	True
a != b	a is not equal to b	abs(-3) != -3	True
a == b	a is equal to b	abs(-5) == 5	True
<condition1> || <condition2>	Condition 1 or condition 2 is met.	(abs(-5) == 5) || (10 < 2)	True
<condition1> && <condition2>	Condition 1 and condition 2 are met.	(abs(-5) == 5) && (10 < 2)	False

Example of a buffer expression using advanced functions and conditions:

iff(field1 > field2, iff(field2 = 0, field3, field4), 0)

Multiplication example for join condition:

iff(field1 > field2, iff(field2 = 0, field3, field4), 0) > $join["Distance"] * 2

Logical operator examples

In addition to the conditional operators, more advanced logical operators can be used to create expressions as shown in the table below. To learn more about logical functions in Arcade, see Logical Functions.

Function	Explanation	Example	Result
iff(<condition>,<true value>,<false value>)	Returns one value if a condition evaluates to true and returns another value if that condition evaluates to false . <true value> and <false value> can be the following: A numeric field. If there is a space in the field name, use square brackets. A number. A function.	iff($feature["field1"] > $feature["field2"], $feature["field1"], 0) iff($feature["field1"] > $feature["field2"], iff($feature["field2"] = 0, $feature["field3"], $feature["field4"]), 0)	Returns field1 if field1 is greater than field2 , and 0 otherwise. Returns the result of the second iff function if field1 is greater than field2 , and 0 otherwise.
when(<expression1> , <result1> , <expression2> , <result2> , ... , <expressionN> , <resultN>, <default>)	Evaluates a series of expressions in order until one evaluates to true . expression-An expression. result-The result of the expression. It can be a number or field. default-An optional value if none of the expressions match.	when(($feature["field1"] + 10) > 1, 1,($feature["field2"] + 10) > 2 , 2, $feature["field3"])	If field1 + 10 is greater than 1, returns 1. If not, checks if field2 + 10 is greater than 2. If yes, it returns 2. If not, it returns field3 .
decode(<conditional val> , <case1> , <result1>, <case2>, <result2>, ... <caseN>, <resultN>, <defaultValue> )	Evaluates an expression and compares its value with subsequent parameters. If the expression matches, it returns the next parameter value. If none match, there is the option for the last parameter to be a default return value. conditional val - The conditional value. It can be a field or an expression. case - A value to be compared to the conditional val. result - The result if the corresponding case matches the conditional val. defaultValue - An optional value if no other values are true.	decode($feature["field1"] + 3 , $feature["field1"], 1, $feature["field2"], 2, 0)	Compares equality between the conditional val field1 + 3 and case1 field1 . If true , it returns 1. If false , it compares the equality between field1 + 3 and field2 . If true , it returns 2; otherwise, it returns 0.