beginswith
VALUE1
beginswith
VALUE2

The beginswith operator returns true if the value on the left starts with the value on the right, false if it doesn’t.

Parameters

This operator has two parameters:

value1 – The first numeric or text value.

value2 – The second numeric or text value.

Description

The beginswith operator compares two values (usually text) to see if the value on the left starts with the value on the right.

    "abcdef" beginswith "abc" ☞ true
    "abcdef" beginswith "bcd" ☞ false
    12345 beginswith 12 ☞ true
    12345 beginswith 23 ☞ false

As the final two examples show, the beginswith operator can work with numbers as well as text – it simply automatically converts the number into text before comparing.

As a more practical example, the formula below will be true if the Address field or variable starts with the letters p.o. box.

    Address beginswith "p.o. box"

This formula will be true if the if the address is P.O. Box 5328, and false if the address is 6938 Wilson Road.

Note: The beginswith operator does not worry about upper or lower case, so P.O. BOX 5328 or p.o. box 5328 will also produce true results. If upper and lower case are important to you use the matchexact operator.

See Also

- < -- compares two values to see if the first value is less than the second value.
- <= -- compares two values to see if the first value is less than or equal to the second value.
- <> -- compares two values to see if they are different.
- = -- compares two values to see if they are the same.
- > -- compares two values to see if the first value is greater than the second value.
- >= -- compares two values to see if the first value is greater than or equal to the second value.
- between( -- checks to see if a value is between two other values.
- contains -- returns true if the value on the left contains the value on the right, false if it doesn't.
- containsword -- returns true if the text contains a specified word, false if it doesn't.
- endswith -- returns true if the value on the left ends with the value on the right, false if it doesn't.
- like -- checks to see if the text on the left matches the wildcard pattern specified on the right.
- limit( -- checks to see if a value is between a minimum and maximum value. If it is, the value is returned unchanged. If it is below the minimum, the minimum value is returned. If it is above the maximum the maximum value is returned.
- match -- checks to see if the text on the left matches the wildcard pattern specified on the right.
- matchexact -- checks to see if the text on the left matches the wildcard pattern specified on the right.
- notbetween( -- checks to see if a value is *not* between two other values.
- notcontains -- returns true if the value on the left does not contain the value on the right, false if it does.
- notmatch -- checks to see if the text on the left does not match the wildcard pattern specified on the right.
- notmatchexact -- checks to see if the text on the left doesn't match the wildcard pattern specified on the right.
- regexmatch -- checks to see if the text on the left matches the regular expression on the right (see Regular Expressions).
- regexmatchexact -- checks to see if the text on the left matches the regular expression on the right (see Regular Expressions).
- soundex( -- computes a four character code that roughly corresponds to the phonetic pronunciation of the word.
- soundslike -- compares two words to see if they "sound like" each other.

History

Version | Status | Notes
10.0 | Updated | Carried over from Panorama 6.0, but also now allows numeric as well as text parameters.