Filter Function Reference

This page contains a reference to filter functions that can be used in WFS filtering or in SLD expressions. The list of functions available on a local Geoserver can be determined by browsing to http://localhost:8080/geoserver/wfs?request=GetCapabilities and searching for ‘ogc:FunctionNames’ in the returned XML. If a function listed in this way is not in this list then it might either mean that the function cannot actually be used for the above purposes, or that it’s new and has not been documented still. Ask for details on the user mailing list.

Unless otherwise specified none of the filter functions in this references is understood natively by the data stores, and as a result all expressions using them will be evaluated in memory.

Function argument type reference

Type Description
Double Floating point number, 8 bytes, IEEE 754. ranging from 4.94065645841246544e-324d to 1.79769313486231570e+308d
Float Floating point number, 4 bytes, IEEE 754. ranging from 1.40129846432481707e-45 to 3.40282346638528860e+38. Smaller range and less accurate than Double.
Integer Integer number, ranging from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
Long Integer number, ranging from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to +9,223,372,036,854,775,807
Number Can be any type of number
String A sequence of characters
Timestamp Date and time information

Comparison and control Functions

Name Arguments Description
between num:Number, low:Number,``high``:Number returns true if low <= num <= high
equalTo a:Object, b:Object Can be used to compare for equality two numbers, two strings, two dates, and so on
greaterEqualThan x:Object, y:Object Returns true if x >= y. Parameters can be either numbers or strings (in the second case lexicographic ordering is used)
greaterThan x:Object, y:Object Returns true if x > y. Parameters can be either numbers or strings (in the second case lexicographic ordering is used)
if_the_else condition:Boolean, x:Object, y: Object Returns x if the condition is true, y otherwise
in10, in9, in8, in7, in6, in5, in4, in3, in2 candidate:Object, v1:Object, ..., v9:Object Returns true if candidate is equal to one of the v1, ..., v9 values. Use the appropriate function name depending on how many arguments you need to pass.
isLike string:String, pattern:String Returns true if the string matches the specified pattern. For the full syntax of the pattern specification see the Java Pattern class javadocs
isNull obj:Object Returns true the passed parameter is null, false otherwise
lessThan x:Object, y:Object Returns true if x < y. Parameters can be either numbers or strings (in the second case lexicographic ordering is used
lessThanEqual x:Object, y:Object Returns true if x <= y. Parameters can be either numbers or strings (in the second case lexicographic ordering is used
not bool:Boolean Returns the negation of bool
notEqual x:Object, y:Object Returns true if x and y are equal, false otherwise

Feature functions

Name Arguments Description
id feature:Feature returns the identifier of the feature
PropertyExists f:Feature, propertyName:String Returns true if f has a property named propertyName

Geometric Functions

Most of the geometric function listed below refer to geometry relationship, to get more information about the meaning of each spatial relationship consult the OGC Simple Feature Specification for SQL

Name Arguments Description
Area geometry:Geometry The area of the specified geometry. Works in a Cartesian plane, the result will be in the same unit of measure as the geometry coordinates (which also means the results won’t make any sense for geographic data)
boundary geometry:Geometry Returns the boundary of a geometry
boundaryDimension geometry:Geometry Returns the number of dimensions of the geometry boundary
buffer geometry:Geometry, distance:Double Returns the buffered area around the geometry using the specified distance
bufferWithSegments geometry:Geometry, distance:Double, segments:Integer Returns the buffered area around the geometry using the specified distance and using the specified number of segments to represent a quadrant of a circle.
bufferWithSegments geometry:Geometry, distance:Double, segments:Integer Returns the buffered area around the geometry using the specified distance and using the specified number of segments to represent a quadrant of a circle.
centroid geometry:Geometry Returns the centroid of the geometry. Can be often used as a label point for polygons, though there is no guarantee it will actually lie inside the geometry
contains a:Geometry, b:Geometry Returns true if the geometry a contains b
convexHull geometry:Geometry Returns the convex hull of the specified geometry
crosses a:Geometry, b:Geometry Returns true if a crosses b
difference a:Geometry, b:Geometry Returns all the points that sit in a but not in b
dimension a:Geometry Returns the dimension of the specified geometry
disjoint a:Geometry, b:Geometry Returns true if the two geometries are disjoint, false otherwise
distance a:Geometry, b:Geometry Returns the euclidean distance between the two geometries
endPoint line:LineString Returns the end point of the line
envelope geometry:geometry Returns the polygon representing the envelope of the geometry, that is, the minimum rectangle with sides parallels to the axis containing it
equalsExact a:Geometry, b:Geometry Returns true if the two geometries are exactly equal, same coordinates in the same order
equalsExactTolerance a:Geometry, b:Geometry, tol:Double Returns true if the two geometries are exactly equal, same coordinates in the same order, allowing for a tol distance in the corresponding points
exteriorRing poly:Polygon Returns the exterior ring of the specified polygon
geometryType geometry:Geometry Returns the type of the geometry as a string. May be Point, MultiPoint, LineString, LinearRing, MultiLineString, Polygon, MultiPoligon, GeometryCollection
geomFromWKT wkt:String Returns the Geometry represented in the Well Known Text format contained in the wkt parameter
geomLength geometry:Geometry Returns the length/perimeter of this geometry (computed in Cartesian space)
getGeometryN collection:GeometryCollection, n:Integer Returns the n-th geometry inside the collection
getX p:Point Returns the x ordinate of p
getY p:Point Returns the y ordinate of p
getZ p:Point Returns the z ordinate of p
interiorPoint geometry:Geometry Returns a point that is either interior to the geometry, when possible, or sitting on its boundary, otherwise
interiorRingN polyg:Polygon, n:Integer Returns the n-th interior ring of the polygon
intersection a:Geometry, b:Geometry Returns the intersection between a and b. The intersection result can be anything including a geometry collection of heterogeneous, if the result is empty, it will be represented by an empty collection.
intersects a:Geometry, b:Geometry Returns true if a intersects b
isClosed line: LineString Returns true if line forms a closed ring, that is, if the first and last coordinates are equal
isEmpty geometry:Geometry Returns true if the geometry does not contain any point (typical case, an empty geometry collection)
isometric geometry:Geometry, extrusion:Double Returns a multi-polygon containing the isometric extrusions of all segments part of the original geometry. The extrusion distance is extrusion and it’s assume to be expressed in the same unit as the geometry coordinates. Can be used to get a cheap pseudo-3d map effect
isRing line:LineString Returns true if the line is actually a closed ring (equivalent to isRing(line) and isSimple(line))
isSimple line:LineString Returns true if the geometry self intersects only at boundary points
isValid geometry: Geometry Returns true if the geometry is topologically valid (rings are closed, holes are inside the hull, and so on)
isWithinDistance a: Geometry, b:Geometry, distance: Double Returns true if the distance between a and b is less than distance (measured as an euclidean distance)
numGeometries collection: GeometryCollection Returns the number of geometries contained in the geometry collection
numInteriorRing poly: Polygon Returns the number of interior rings (holes) inside the specified polygon
numPoint geometry: Geometry Returns the number of points (vertexes) contained in geometry
offset geometry: Geometry, offsetX:Double, offsetY:Double Offsets all points in a geometry by the specified X and Y offsets. Offsets are working in the same coordinate system as the geometry own coordinates.
overlaps a: Geometry, b:Geometry Returns true a overlaps with b
pointN geometry: Geometry, n:Integer Returns the n-th point inside the specified geometry
relate a: Geometry, b:Geometry Returns the DE-9IM intersection matrix for a and b
relatePattern a: Geometry, b:Geometry, pattern:String Returns true if the DE-9IM intersection matrix for a and b matches the specified pattern
startPoint line: LineString Returns the starting point of the specified geometry
symDifference a: Geometry, b:Geometry Returns the symmetrical difference between a and b (all points that are inside a or b, but not both)
touches a: Geometry, b: Geometry Returns true if a touches b according to the SQL simple feature specification rules
toWKT geometry: Geometry Returns the WKT representation of geometry
union a: Geometry, b:Geometry Returns the union of a and b (the result may be a geometry collection)
vertices geom: Geometry Returns a multi-point made with all the vertices of geom
within a: Geometry, b:Geometry Returns true is fully contained inside b

Math Functions

Name Arguments Description
abs value:Integer The absolute value of the specified Integer value
abs_2 value:Long The absolute value of the specified Long value
abs_3 value:Float The absolute value of the specified Float value
abs_4 value:Double The absolute value of the specified Double value
acos angle:Double Returns the arc cosine of an angle expressed in radians, in the range of 0.0 through PI
asin angle:Double Returns the arc sine of an angle expressed in radians, in the range of -PI / 2 through PI / 2
atan angle:Double Returns the arc tangent of an angle, in the range of -PI/2 through PI/2
atan2 x:Double, y:Double Converts rectangular coordinates (x, y) to polar (r, theta).
ceil x: Double Returns the smallest (closest to negative infinity) double value that is greater than or equal to the argument and is equal to a mathematical integer.
cos angle: Double Returns the cosine of an angle expressed in radians
double2bool x: Double Returns true if the number is zero, false otherwise
exp x: Double Returns Euler’s number raised to the power of x
floor x: Double Returns the largest (closest to positive infinity) value that is less than or equal to the argument and is equal to a mathematical integer
IEEERemainder x: Double, y:Double Computes the remainder operation on two arguments as prescribed by the IEEE 754 standard
int2bbool x: Integer Returns true if the number is zero, false otherwise
int2ddouble x: Integer Converts the number to Double
log x: Integer Returns the natural logarithm (base e) of x
max, max_3, max_4 x1: Double, x2:Double, x3:Double, x4:Double Returns the maximum between x1, ..., x4
min, min_3, min_4 x1: Double, x2:Double, x3:Double, x4:Double Returns the minimum between x1, ..., x4
pi None Returns an approximation of pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter
pow base:Double, exponent:Double Returns the value of base raised to the power of exponent
random None Returns a Double value with a positive sign, greater than or equal to 0.0 and less than 1.0. Returned values are chosen pseudo-randomly with (approximately) uniform distribution from that range.
rint x:Double Returns the Double value that is closest in value to the argument and is equal to a mathematical integer. If two double values that are mathematical integers are equally close, the result is the integer value that is even.
round_2 x:Double Same as round, but returns a Long
round x:Double Returns the closest Integer to the argument. The result is rounded to an integer by adding 1/2, taking the floor of the result, and casting the result to type Integer. In other words, the result is equal to the value of the expression (int)floor(a + 0.5)
roundDouble x:Double Returns the closest Long to the argument
sqrt x:Double Returns the square root of the argument
tan angle:Double Returns the trigonometric tangent of angle
toDegrees angle:Double Converts an angle expressed in radians into degrees
toRadians angle:Double Converts an angle expressed in radians into degrees

String functions

Name Arguments Description
strCapitalize (since 2.0.2) sentence:String Fully capitalizes the sentence. For example, “HoW aRe YOU?” will be turned into “How Are You?”
strConcat a:String, b:String Concatenates the two strings into one
strEndsWith string:String, suffix:String Returns true if string ends with suffix
strEqualsIgnoreCase a:String, b:String Returns true if the two strings are equal ignoring case considerations
strIndexOf string:String, substring:String Returns the index within this string of the first occurrence of the specified substring, or -1 if not found
strLastIndexOf string:String, substring:String Returns the index within this string of the last occurrence of the specified substring, or -1 if not found
strLength string:String Returns the string length
strMatches string:String, pattern:String Returns true if the string matches the specified regular expression. For the full syntax of the pattern specification see the Java Pattern class javadocs
strReplace string:String, pattern:String, replacement:String, global: boolean Returns the string with the pattern replaced with the given replacement text. If the global argument is true then all occurrences of the pattern will be replaced, otherwise only the first. For the full syntax of the pattern specification see the Java Pattern class javadocs
strStartsWith string:String, prefix:String Returns true if string starts with prefix
strSubstring string:String, begin:Integer, end:Integer Returns a new string that is a substring of this string. The substring begins at the specified begin and extends to the character at index endIndex - 1 (indexes are zero-based).
strSubstringStart string:String, begin:Integer Returns a new string that is a substring of this string. The substring begins at the specified begin and extends to the last character of the string
strToLowerCase string:String Returns the lower case version of the string
strToUpperCase string:String Returns the upper case version of the string
strTrim string:String Returns a copy of the string, with leading and trailing white space omitted

Parsing and formatting functions

Name Arguments Description
dateFormat date:Timestamp, format:String Formats the specified date according to the provided format. The format syntax can be found in the Java SimpleDateFormat javadocs
dateParse dateString:String, format:String Parses a date from a dateString formatted according to the format specification. The format syntax can be found in the Java SimpleDateFormat javadocs
numberFormat number:Double, format:String Formats the number according to the specified format. The format syntax can be found in the Java DecimalFormat javadocs
parseBoolean boolean:String Parses a string into a boolean. The empty string, f, 0.0 and 0 are considered false, everything else is considered true.
parseDouble number:String Parses a string into a double. The number can be expressed in normal or scientific form.
parseInt number:String Parses a string into an integer.
parseLong number:String Parses a string into a long integer
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