Tableau - Operators

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An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical manipulations. Tableau has a number of operators used to create calculated fields and formulas.

Following are the details of the operators that are available and the order (precedence) of operations.

Types of Operator

• General Operators
• Arithmetic Operators
• Relational Operators
• Logical Operators

General Operators

Following table shows the general operators supported by Tableau. These operators act on numeric, character, and date data types.

Operator	Description	Example
+(addition)	Adds two numbers. Concatenates two strings. Adds days to dates.	7 + 3 Profit + Sales 'abc' + 'def' = 'abcdef' #April 15, 2004# + 15 = #April 30, 2004#
–(subtraction)	Subtracts two numbers. Subtracts days from dates.	-(7+3) = -10 #April 16, 2004# - 15 = #April 1, 2004#

Arithmetic Operators

Following table shows the arithmetic operators supported by Tableau. These operators act only on numeric data types.

Operator	Description	Example
*(Multiplication)	Numeric multiplication	23*2 = 46
/(Division)	Numeric division	45/2 = 22.5
%(modulo)	Reminder of numeric division	13 % 2 = 1
^(power)	Raised to the power	2^3 = 8

Comparison Operators

Following table lists the comparison operators supported by Tableau. These operators are used in expressions. Each operator compares two numbers, dates, or strings and returns a Boolean (TRUE or FALSE). Booleans themselves, however, cannot be compared using these operators.

Operator	Description	Example
= = or = (Equal to)	Compares two numbers or two strings or two dates to be equal. Returns the Boolean value TRUE if they are, else returns false.	‘Hello’ = ‘Hello’ 5 = 15/ 3
!= or <> (Not equal to)	Compares two numbers or two strings or two dates to be unequal. Returns the Boolean value TRUE if they are, else returns false.	‘Good’ <> ‘Bad’ 18 != 37 / 2
> (Greater than)	Compares two numbers or two strings or two dates where the first argument is greater than second. Returns the boolean value TRUE if it is the case, else returns false.	[Profit] > 20000 [Category] > ‘Q’ [Ship date] > #April 1, 2004#
< (Less than)	Compares two numbers or two strings or two dates where the first argument is smaller than second. Returns the boolean value TRUE if it is the case, else returns false.	[Profit] < 20000 [Category] < ‘Q’ [Ship date] < #April 1, 2004#

Logical Operators

Following table shows the logical operators supported by Tableau. These operators are used in expressions whose result is a Boolean giving the output as TRUE or FALSE.

Operator	Description	Example
AND	If the expressions or Boolean values present on both sides of AND operator is evaluated to be TRUE, then the result is TRUE. Else the result is FALSE.	[Ship Date] > #April 1, 2012# AND [Profit] > 10000
OR	If any one or both of the expressions or Boolean values present on both sides of AND operator is evaluated to be TRUE, then the result is TRUE. Else the result is FALSE.	[Ship Date] > #April 1, 2012# OR [Profit] > 10000
NOT	This operator negates the Boolean value of the expression present after it.	NOT [Ship Date] > #April 1, 2012#

Operator Precedence

The following table describes the order in which operators are evaluated. The top row has the highest precedence. Operators on the same row have the same precedence. If two operators have the same precedence, they are evaluated from left to right in the formula. Also parentheses can be used. The inner parentheses are evaluated before the outer parentheses.

Precedence	Operator
1	–(negate)
2	^(power)
3	*, /, %
4	+, –
5	==, >, <, >=, <=, !=
6	NOT
7	AND
8	OR