Persistent assignment: <-

Syntax

re <- op

Input parameters

re

the result

right

the operand. According to the general VTL rule allowing the indentation of the operators,
op can be obtained through an expression as complex as needed
(for example op can be the expression DS_1 - DS_2).

Examples of valid syntaxes

DS_r <- DS_1
DS_r <- DS_1 - DS_2

Semantics for scalar operations

Empty

Input parameters type

op

dataset

Result type

result

dataset

Additional Constraints

The assignment cannot be used at Component level because the result of a Transformation cannot be a Data Set Component. When operations at Component level are invoked, the result is the Data Set which the output Components belongs to.

Behaviour

The input operand op is assigned to the persistent result re, which assumes the same value as op. As mentioned, the operand op can be obtained through an expression as complex as needed (for example op can be the expression DS_1 - DS_2).

The result re is a persistent Data Set that has the same data structure as the Operand. For example in DS_r <- DS_1 the data structure of DS_r is the same as the one of DS_1.

If the Operand op is a scalar value, the result Data Set has no Components and contains only such a scalar value. For example, income <- 3 assigns the value 3 to the persistent Data Set named income.

Examples

Given the operand dataset DS_1:

Input DS_1 (see structure)

Id_1

Id_2

Me_1

Me_2

2013

Belgium

5

5

2013

Denmark

2

10

2013

France

3

12

2013

Spain

4

20

Example 1

DS_r <- DS_1;

results in (see structure):

DS_r

Id_1

Id_2

Me_1

Me_2

2013

Belgium

5

5

2013

Denmark

2

10

2013

France

3

12

2013

Spain

4

20