Casting Functions

This topic describes the functions that are available for coercing data types in Graph Lakehouse.

• BNODE: Creates a blank node.
• DATATYPE: Returns the data type of the given value.
• DATETIME (or xsd:dateTime): Returns a dateTime value from the given string, long, or dateTime.
• DUR_TO_USECS: Casts a duration value to microseconds.
• ENCODE_FOR_URI: Encodes the specified string as a URI.
• FORMATDATETIME: Converts a value to a string in the specified dateTime format.
• FORMATDURATION: Converts a value into a string in the specified duration format.
• HEX: Converts a long value to a hexadecimal string.
• HEX2DEC: Converts a hexadecimal string to a long value.
• PARSEDATE: Attempts to convert the given string to a date, time, or dateTime value.
• RADIANS: Converts to radians an angle value that is in degrees.
• SERIALIZE: Creates a string representation of the input value.
• STR: Casts a value to a string.
• URI: Casts a string to a URI.
• USECS_TO_DUR: Converts a microseconds value to a duration.
• UUID: Generates a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID).

Typographical Conventions

The following list describes the conventions used to document function syntax:

• CAPS: Although SPARQL is case-insensitive, SPARQL keywords in this section are written in uppercase for readability.
• [ argument ]: Brackets indicate an optional argument or keyword.
• |: Means OR. Indicates that you can use one or more of the specified options.

BNODE

This function creates a blank node.

Syntax

BNODE([ value ])

Argument	Type	Description
value	string	An optional string value from which to create the blank node.

Returns

Type	Description
blank node	The generated blank node.

DATATYPE

This function returns the data type of the given value.

Syntax

DATATYPE(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	any	The value for which to return the data type.

Returns

Type	Description
data type URI	The data type.

DATETIME (or xsd:dateTime)

This function returns a dateTime value from the given long, double, date, or time value.

Syntax

DATETIME(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	long, double, date, time	The value from which to return a dateTime.

Returns

Type	Description
dateTime	The dateTime value.

DUR_TO_USECS

This function calculates the time in microseconds from a duration value.

Syntax

DUR_TO_USECS(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	duration	The duration value from which to calculate the time in microseconds.

Returns

Type	Description
long	The number of microseconds.

Example

SELECT (DUR_TO_USECS("PT2H11M48.376S"^^xsd:duration) as ?microseconds)

microseconds

7908376000 1 rows

ENCODE_FOR_URI

This function encodes the specified string as a URI and returns a string in URI format.

Syntax

ENCODE_FOR_URI(text)

Argument	Type	Description
text	string	The string value to encode as a URI.

Returns

Type	Description
string	The string as a URI.

Example

PREFIX tickit: http://anzograph.com/tickit/ SELECT DISTINCT (ENCODE_FOR_URI(?eventname) as ?event) FROM http://anzograph.com/tickit WHERE { ?s tickit:eventid ?eventid . ?eventid tickit:eventname ?eventname . } ORDER BY ?event LIMIT 10

event

.38%20Special 3%20Doors%20Down 70s%20Soul%20Jam A%20Bronx%20Tale A%20Catered%20Affair A%20Chorus%20Line A%20Christmas%20Carol A%20Doll%27s%20House A%20Man%20For%20All%20Seasons A%20Midsummer%20Night%27s%20Dream 10 rows

HEX

This function converts a long value to a hexadecimal string.

Syntax

HEX(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	long	The value to convert to a hexadecimal string.

Returns

Type	Description
string	The hex value.

HEX2DEC

This function converts a hexadecimal string to a long value.

Syntax

HEX2DEC(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	string	The hexadecimal string to convert.

Returns

Type	Description
long	The converted value.

FORMATDATETIME

This function converts a value into a string with the specified dateTime format.

Syntax

FORMATDATE(value, format)

Argument	Type	Description
value	long, double, date, time, dateTime	The value to convert to a string in the specified format.
format	string	The format to use for the resulting dateTime string. Graph Lakehouse supports YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss format.

Returns

Type	Description
string	The dateTime as a string.

FORMATDURATION

This function converts a value into a string with the specified duration format.

Syntax

FORMATDURATION(value, format)

Argument	Type	Description
value	long, string, duration	The value to convert to a string in the specified format.
format	string	The format to use for the resulting duration string. Graph Lakehouse supports PnYnMnDTnHnMnS format.

Returns

Type	Description
string	The duration as a string.

PARSEDATE

This function attempts to convert the given string to a date, time, or dateTime value.

Syntax

PARSEDATE(value [, output_type ])

Argument	Type	Description
value	string	The string or plain literal value to convert to a date, time, or dateTime.
output_type	URI	An optional URI (xsd:date, xsd:time, or xsd:dateTime) that specifies the type of value to return. If output_type is not specified, dateTime is returned.

Returns

Type	Description
date, time, or dateTime	The conversion of the string to the desired type.

RADIANS

This function converts to radians an angle value that is in degrees.

Syntax

RADIANS(angle)

Argument	Type	Description
angle	double	The angle value to convert to radians.

Returns

Type	Description
double	The angle in radians.

SERIALIZE

This function returns a string representation of the input value.

Syntax

SERIALIZE(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	any type except URI	The value for which to generate a string representation.

Returns

Type	Description
string	The string representation of the input value.

STR

This function casts the specified value to a string.

Syntax

STR(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	any	The value to convert to a string.

Returns

Type	Description
string	The value as a string.

URI

This function casts the specified string to a URI.

Syntax

URI(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	string	The value to convert to a URI.

Returns

Type	Description
URI	The value as a URI.

USECS_TO_DUR

This function converts a number of microseconds in long, duration, or string format to a duration value.

Syntax

USECS_TO_DUR(value)

Argument	Type	Description
value	long, duration, string	The microseconds value to convert to a duration.

Returns

Type	Description
duration	The input value as a duration.

Example

SELECT (USECS_TO_DUR(76555373888) as ?duration)

duration

PT21H15M55.373888S 1 rows

UUID

This function generates a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID).

Syntax

UUID()

Returns

Type	Description
URI	The UUID.