SliceMixed / String Layer
Extract substrings using either fixed or dynamic position and length values. Similar to Python's str[start:start+length], but with support for column-based slicing parameters. Works with UTF-8 characters, not bytes.
Common applications:
- Extracting dynamic-length fields
- Processing variable-format data
- Working with position-based formats
- Splitting strings based on data-driven rules
- Creating flexible text extracts
- Handling custom data formats
Examples:
- Fixed slice: 'Hello World'[0:5] → 'Hello'
- Dynamic offset: offset from length column
- Dynamic length: length based on content
- Mixed: fixed offset with dynamic length
Note: Handles UTF-8 characters correctly, including multi-byte characters and special symbols.
Select
columnThe string column to slice. Examples of input:
- Fixed-width fields: 'CODE12345DESC '
- Variable text: 'Header: Content here'
- Mixed content: '2024-01-31 Log entry'
- Structured data: 'Name=John;Age=30'
Offset
oneofSelectOffset
columnColumn containing starting positions for slicing. Enables dynamic offset values based on data. Use cases:
- Variable header lengths
- Data-dependent start positions
- Calculated offsets
- Pattern-based positioning
Column must contain valid integer values
FixedOffset
i64Fixed starting position for slicing. Examples:
- 0: Start from beginning
- 5: Skip first 5 characters
- -10: Start 10 characters from end
Negative values count from string end
Length
oneofSelectLength
columnColumn containing length values for slicing. Enables variable-length extraction. Use cases:
- Content-dependent lengths
- Dynamic field sizes
- Adaptive text extraction
- Data-driven substring lengths
Column must contain valid integer values
FixedLength
i64Fixed length for substring extraction. Examples:
- 3: Take 3 characters
- 10: Extract 10 characters
- -2: Take all but last 2 characters
Negative values retain characters from start up to that position from end
AsColumn
nameName for the new column. If not provided, the system generates a unique name. If AsColumn matches an existing column, the existing column is replaced. The name should follow valid column naming conventions.