Filter Function Reference

This reference describes all filter functions that can be used in WFS/WMS filtering or in SLD expressions.

The list of functions available on a GeoServer instance can be determined by browsing to http://localhost:8080/geoserver/wfs?request=GetCapabilities and searching for ogc:Function_Names (WFS 1.0.0), ogc:FunctionNames (WFS 1.1.0), or fes:Functions (WFS 2.0.0) in the returned XML. If a function is described in the Capabilities document but is not in this reference, then it might mean that the function cannot be used for filtering, or that it is new and has not been documented. Ask for details on the user mailing list.

Unless otherwise specified, none of the filter functions in this reference are understood natively by the data stores, and thus expressions using them will be evaluated in-memory.

Function argument type reference

Type	Description
Double	Floating point number, 8 bytes, IEEE 754. Ranges from 4.94065645841246544e-324d to 1.79769313486231570e+308d
Float	Floating point number, 4 bytes, IEEE 754. Ranges 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	A numeric value of any type
Object	A value of any type
String	A sequence of characters
Timestamp	Date and time information

Comparison 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)
in2, in3, in4, in5, in6, in7, in8, in9, in10	candidate:Object, v1:Object, ..., v9:Object	Returns true if candidate is equal to one of the v1, ..., v9 values. Use the function name matching the number of arguments specified.
in	candidate:Object, v1:Object, v2:Object, ...	Works exactly the same as the in2, ..., in10 functions described above, but takes any number of values as input.
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
lessEqualThan	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
notEqualTo	x:Object, y:Object	Returns true if x and y are equal, false otherwise

Control functions

Name	Arguments	Description
if_then_else	condition:Boolean, x:Object, y: Object	Returns x if the condition is true, y otherwise

Environment function

This function returns the value of environment variables defined in various contexts. WMS GetMap automatically defines some variables SLD rendering, while others can be provided using the env request parameter. Example usage in e.g. a dynamic symbolizer:

${env('size', 20)}

Example usage in a default Symbolizer:

<PointSymbolizer uom="http://www.opengeospatial.org/se/units/metre">
  <Graphic>
  ...
    <Size>
      <ogc:Function name="env">
        <ogc:Literal>size</ogc:Literal>
        <ogc:Literal>20</ogc:Literal>
      </ogc:Function>
    </Size>
  </Graphic>
</PointSymbolizer>

Name

Arguments

Description

env

variable:String

Returns the value of the environment variable variable.

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
property	f:Feature, propertyName:String	Returns the value of the property propertyName. Allows property names to be computed or specified by Variable substitution in SLD.
mapGet	f:Feature, map:Map, key:String	Get the value of the map map related to the specified key.

Spatial Relationship functions

For more information about the precise meaning of the spatial relationships consult the OGC Simple Feature Specification for SQL

Name	Arguments	Description
contains	a:Geometry, b:Geometry	Returns true if the geometry a contains b
crosses	a:Geometry, b:Geometry	Returns true if a crosses b
disjoint	a:Geometry, b:Geometry	Returns true if the two geometries are disjoint, false otherwise
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
intersects	a:Geometry, b:Geometry	Returns true if a intersects b
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)
overlaps	a: Geometry, b:Geometry	Returns true a overlaps with b
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
touches	a: Geometry, b: Geometry	Returns true if a touches b according to the SQL simple feature specification rules
within	a: Geometry, b:Geometry	Returns true is fully contained inside b

Geometric functions

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.

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

convexHull

geometry:Geometry

Returns the convex hull of the specified geometry

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

distance

a:Geometry, b:Geometry

Returns the euclidean distance between the two geometries

endAngle

line:LineString

Returns the angle of the end segment of the linestring

endPoint

line:LineString

Returns the end point of the linestring

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

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, MultiPolygon, 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.

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 MultiPolygon containing the isometric extrusions of all components of the input geometry. The extrusion distance is extrusion, expressed in the same unit as the geometry coordinates. Can be used to get a pseudo-3d effect in a map

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)

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.

pointN

geometry: Geometry, n:Integer

Returns the n-th point inside the specified geometry

startAngle

line: LineString

Returns the angle of the starting segment of the input linestring

startPoint

line: LineString

Returns the starting point of the input linestring

symDifference

a: Geometry, b:Geometry

Returns the symmetrical difference between a and b (all points that are inside a or b, but not both)

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

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 in radians, in the range of 0.0 through PI
asin	angle:Double	Returns the arc sine of an angle in radians, in the range of -PI / 2 through PI / 2
atan	angle:Double	Returns the arc tangent of an angle in radians, in the range of -PI/2 through PI/2
atan2	x:Double, y:Double	Converts a rectangular coordinate (x, y) to polar (r, theta) and returns theta.
ceil	x: Double	Returns the smallest (closest to negative infinity) double value that is greater than or equal to x 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 x is zero, false otherwise
exp	x: Double	Returns Euler's number e raised to the power of x
floor	x: Double	Returns the largest (closest to positive infinity) value that is less than or equal to x and is equal to a mathematical integer
IEEERemainder	x: Double, y:Double	Computes the remainder of x divided by y as prescribed by the IEEE 754 standard
int2bbool	x: Integer	Returns true if x is zero, false otherwise
int2ddouble	x: Integer	Converts x to a 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 x. The result is rounded to an integer by adding ½, 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 x
sin	angle: Double	Returns the sine of an angle expressed in radians
tan	angle:Double	Returns the trigonometric tangent of angle expressed in radians
toDegrees	angle:Double	Converts an angle expressed in radians into degrees
toRadians	angle:Double	Converts an angle expressed in radians into degrees

String functions

String functions generally will accept any type of value for String arguments. Non-string values will be converted into a string representation automatically.

Name

Arguments

Description

Concatenate

s1:String, s2:String, ...

Concatenates any number of strings. Non-string arguments are allowed.

strAbbreviate

sentence:String, lower:Integer, upper:Integer, append:String

Abbreviates the sentence at first space beyond lower (or at upper if no space). Appends append if string is abbreviated.

strCapitalize

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

strDefaultIfBlank

str:String, default:String

returns default if str is empty, blank or null

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

strStripAccents

string:String

Removes diacritics (\~= accents) from a string. The case will not be altered.

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 blank-space omitted

Parsing and formatting functions

Name	Arguments	Description
dateFormat	format:String, date:Timestamp	Formats the specified date according to the provided format. The format syntax can be found in the Java SimpleDateFormat javadocs
dateParse	format:String, dateString: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	format:String, number:Double, locale:String	Formats the number according to the specified format using the default locale or the one provided as an optional argument. 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

Temporal functions

Name	Arguments	Description
dateDifference	a:Date, b:Date, timeUnits:String	Computes the difference between two date (as a-b) and return a result in a specific time units. timeUnits is optional, representing the desired time units result. Default as milliseconds. Possible values are s (seconds), m (minutes), h (hours), d (days).
now	None	Returns the current time as a Date

Transformation functions

Transformation functions transform values from one data space into another. These functions provide a concise way to compute styling parameters from feature attribute values. See also Styling using Transformation Functions.

Name

Arguments

Description

Recode

lookupValue:Object,

data:Object, value:Object, ...

Transforms a lookupValue from a set of discrete data values into another set of values. Any number of data/value pairs may be specified.

Categorize

lookupValue:Object, value:Object,

threshold:Object, ... value:Object,

belongsTo : String

Transforms a continuous-valued attribute value into a set of discrete values. lookupValue and value must be an orderable type (typically numeric). The initial value is required. Any number of additional threshold/value pairs may be specified. belongsTo is optional, with the value succeeding or preceding. It defines which interval to use when the lookup value equals a threshold value.

Interpolate

lookupValue:Numeric,

data:Numeric, value:Numeric or #RRGGBB, ...

mode:String, method:String

Transforms a continuous-valued attribute value into another continuous range of values. Any number of data/value pairs may be specified. mode is optional, with the value linear, cosine or cubic. It defines the interpolation algorithm to use. method is optional, with the value numeric or color. It defines whether the target values are numeric or RGB color specifications.