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Array Functions

This page lists the array functions supported in OpenObserve, along with their usage formats, descriptions, and examples.

The array functions operate on fields that contain arrays. In OpenObserve, array fields are typically stored as stringified JSON arrays.
For example, in a stream named default, there may be a field named emails that contains the following value: ["jim@email.com", "john@doe.com", "jene@doe.com"]
Although the value appears as a valid array, it is stored as a string. The array functions in this section are designed to work on such stringified JSON arrays and provide support for sorting, counting, joining, slicing, and combining elements.

arr_descending

Syntax: arr_descending(field)
Description:

  • Sorts the elements in the specified array field in descending order.
  • The array must be a stringified JSON array.
  • All elements in the array must be of the same type.

Example: 

SELECT *, arr_descending(emails) as sorted_emails FROM "default" ORDER BY _timestamp DESC
In this query, the emails field contains a stringified JSON array such as ["jim@email.com", "john@doe.com", "jene@doe.com"]. The query creates a new field sorted_emails, which contains the elements sorted in descending order: ["john@doe.com", "jene@doe.com", "jim@email.com"]
arr_descending

arrcount

Syntax: arrcount(arrfield)
Description:
Counts the number of elements in a stringified JSON array stored in the specified field. The field must contain a valid JSON array as a string.

Example: 

SELECT *, arrcount(emails) as email_count FROM "default" ORDER BY _timestamp DESC
In this query, the emails field contains a value such as ["jim@email.com", "john@doe.com", "jene@doe.com"]. The function counts the number of elements in the array and returns the result: 3.
arrcount

arrindex

Syntax: arrindex(field, start, end)
Description:

  • Returns a subset of elements from a stringified JSON array stored in the specified field.
  • The function selects a range starting from the start index up to and including the end index.

Example: 

SELECT *, arrindex(emails, 0, 1) as selected_emails FROM "default" ORDER BY _timestamp DESC
In this query, the emails field contains a value such as ["jim@email.com", "john@doe.com", "jene@doe.com"]. The function extracts elements at index 0 and 1. The result is: ["jim@email.com", "john@doe.com"]
arrindex

arrjoin

Syntax: arrjoin(field, delimiter)
Description:

  • Concatenates all elements in a stringified JSON array using the specified delimiter.
  • The output is a single string where array elements are joined by the delimiter in the order they appear.

SELECT *, arrjoin(emails, ' | ') as joined_numbers FROM "default" ORDER BY _timestamp DESC
In this query, the emails field contains a value such as ["jim@email.com", "john@doe.com", "jene@doe.com"]. The function joins all elements using the delimiter |. The result is: "jim@email.com | john@doe.com | jene@doe.com"
arr_join

arrsort

Syntax: arrsort(field)
Description:

  • Sorts the array field in increasing order.
  • All elements must be of the same type, such as numbers or strings.

SELECT *, arrsort(emails) as increasing_numbers FROM "default" ORDER BY _timestamp DESC
In this query, the emails field contains a value such as ["jim@email.com", "john@doe.com", "jene@doe.com"]. The function sorts the elements in increasing lexicographical order. The result is: ["jene@doe.com", "jim@email.com", "john@doe.com"].
arrsort

arrzip

Syntax: arrzip(field1, field2, delimiter)
Description:

  • Combines two stringified JSON arrays element by element using the specified delimiter.
  • Each element from the first array is joined with the corresponding element from the second array.
  • The result is a new array of joined values.

SELECT *, arrzip(emails, usernames, '|') as zipped_field FROM "default" ORDER BY _timestamp DESC
In this query, the emails field contains ["jim@email.com", "john@doe.com"] and the usernames field contains ["jim", "john"]. The function combines each pair of elements using the delimiter |. The result is: ["jim@email.com | jim", "john@doe.com | john"]
arrzip

spath

Syntax: spath(field, path)
Description:

  • Extracts a nested value from a JSON object stored as a string by following the specified path.
  • The path must use dot notation to access nested keys.

Example: 

SELECT *, spath(json_object_field, 'nested.value') as extracted_value FROM "default" ORDER BY _timestamp DESC
In this query, the json_object_field contains a value such as:

{"nested": {"value": 23}}
The function navigates the JSON structure and extracts the value associated with the path nested.value. The result is: 23.

Sample Input in log stream: Nested Input

Running SQL query using spath(): Nested value extraction

cast_to_arr

Syntax: cast_to_arr(field)
Description:

  • Converts a stringified JSON array into a native DataFusion array.
  • This is required before applying native DataFusion array functions such as unnest, array_union, or array_pop_back.
  • Native functions do not work directly on stringified arrays, so this conversion is mandatory.

Learn more about the native datafusion array functions.

Example:

SELECT _timestamp, nums, less,
array_union(cast_to_arr(nums), cast_to_arr(less)) as union_result
FROM "arr_udf"
ORDER BY _timestamp DESC

In this query:

  • nums and less are fields that contain stringified JSON arrays, such as [1, 2, 3] and [3, 4].
  • The function cast_to_arr is used to convert these fields into native arrays.
  • The result of array_union is a merged array with unique values: [1, 2, 3, 4].


cast_to_arr

to_array_string

Syntax: to_array_string(array)
Description:

  • Converts a native DataFusion array back into a stringified JSON array.
  • This is useful when you want to apply OpenObserve-specific array functions such as arrsort or arrjoin after using native array operations like array_concat.

Example: 

SELECT *,
arrsort(to_array_string(array_concat(cast_to_arr(numbers), cast_to_arr(more_numbers)))) as sorted_result
FROM "default"
ORDER BY _timestamp DESC
In this query:

  • numbers and more_numbers are stringified JSON arrays.
  • cast_to_arr converts them into native arrays.
  • array_concat joins the two native arrays.
  • to_array_string converts the result back into a stringified array.
  • arrsort then sorts the array in increasing order.


to_array_string