The abs function can be used in custom filters and table calculations to get the absolute value of an expression.

Syntax

abs(value)

The abs function returns the absolute value of the expression value. The “absolute value” of a number is its distance from zero as a positive number.

Examples

The abs function can be used to return positive numbers from negative numbers. For instance, to return positive 4 from negative 4:

abs(-4)

Typically, the abs function is used with a field reference or an expression. For example, you might want to determine how much the price of an item changed, but don’t want to know if it went up or down:

abs(${item.start_price} - ${item.end_price})

Things to know

abs is useful for determining the difference between two values, regardless of which value is bigger. For instance, this returns 1:

abs(2 - 1)

This also returns 1:

abs(1 - 2)

As in the example above, you could compare two fields this way:

abs(${item.start_price} - ${item.end_price})