This is a complete reference to the ranking expressions used to configure application specific ranking functions. For examples and an overview of how to use ranking expressions, see the ranking overview.
Ranking expressions are written in a simple language similar to ordinary functional notation. The atoms in ranking expressions are rank features and constants. These atoms can be combined by arithmetic operations and other built-in functions over scalars and tensor.
Rank Features |
A rank feature is a named value calculated or looked up by vespa for each query/document combination. See the rank feature reference for a list of all the rank features available to ranking expressions. |
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Constants |
A constant is either a floating point number, a boolean (true/false) or a quoted string. Since ranking expressions can only work on scalars and tensors, strings and booleans are immediately converted to scalars - true becomes 1.0, false 0.0 and a string its hash value. This means that strings can only be used for equality comparisons, other purposes such as parametrizing the key to slice out of a tensor will not work correctly. |
Basic mathematical operations are expressed in in-fix notation:
a + b * c
Arithmetic operations work on any tensor in addition to scalars, and are a short form
of joining the tensors with the arithmetic operation used to join the cells.
For example tensorA * tensorB
is the same as join(tensorA, tensorB, f(a,b)(a * b))
.
All arithmetic operators in order of decreasing precedence:
Arithmetic operator | Description |
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^ | Power |
% | Modulo |
/ | Division |
* | Multiplication |
- | Subtraction |
+ | Addition |
&& | And: 1 if both arguments are non-zero, 0 otherwise. |
|| | Or: 1 if either argument is non-zero, 0 otherwise. |
Function | Description |
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acos(x) | Inverse cosine of x |
asin(x) | Inverse sine of x |
atan(x) | Inverse tangent of x |
atan2(y, x) | Inverse tangent of y / x, using signs of both arguments to determine correct quadrant. |
bit(x, y) | Returns value of bit y in value x (for int8 values) |
ceil(x) | Lowest integral value not less than x |
cos(x) | Cosine of x |
cosh(x) | Hyperbolic cosine of x |
elu(x) | The Exponential Linear Unit activation function for value x |
erf(x) | The Gauss error function for value x |
exp(x) | Base-e exponential function. |
fabs(x) | Absolute value of (floating-point) number x |
floor(x) | Largest integral value not greater than x |
fmod(x, y) | Remainder of x / y |
isNan(x) | Returns 1.0 if x is NaN, 0.0 otherwise |
ldexp(x, exp) | Multiply x by 2 to the power of exp |
log(x) | Base-e logarithm of x |
log10(x) | Base-10 logarithm of x |
max(x, y) | Larger of x and y |
min(x, y) | Smaller of x and y |
pow(x, y) | Return x raised to the power of y |
relu(x) | The Rectified Linear Unit activation function for value x |
sigmoid(x) | The sigmoid (logistic) activation function for value x |
sin(x) | Sine of x |
sinh(x) | Hyperbolic sine of x |
sqrt(x) | Square root of x |
tan(x) | Tangent of x |
tanh(x) | Hyperbolic tangent of x |
hamming(x, y) | Hamming (bit-wise) distance between x and y (considered as 8-bit integers). |
x
and y
may be any ranking expression.
The if
function chooses between two sub-expressions based on the truth value of a condition.
if (expression1 operator expression2, trueExpression, falseExpression)
If the condition given in the first argument is true, the expression in argument 2 is used, otherwise argument 3. The four expressions may be any ranking expression. Conditional operators in ranking expression if functions:
Boolean operator | Description |
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<= | Less than or equal |
< | Less than |
== | Equal |
~= | Approximately equal |
>= | Greater than or equal |
> | Greater than |
The in
membership operator uses a slightly modified if-syntax:
if (expression1 in [expression2, expression3, ..., expressionN], trueExpression, falseExpression)
If expression1 is equal to either of expression1 through expressionN, then trueExpression is used, otherwise falseExpression.
The foreach function is not really part of the expression language but implemented as a rank feature.
The following set of tensors functions are available to use in ranking expressions. The functions are grouped in primitive functions and convenience functions that can be implemented in terms of the primitive ones.
Function | Description |
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map( tensor, f(x)(expr) ) |
Returns a new tensor with the lambda function defined in Arguments:
tensor . Examples:
map(t, f(x)(x*x))playground example map |
map_subspaces( tensor, f(x)(expr) ) |
Returns a new tensor with the lambda function defined in Arguments:
tensor . This is an advanced
feature that enables using dense tensor
generator expressions to transform mixed tensors. Examples:
map_subspaces(tensor(x{},y[3]):{a:[1,2,3]},f(d)(tensor(z[2])(d{y:(z)}+d{y:(z+1)})))playground example for map_subspaces |
reduce( tensor, aggregator, dim1, dim2, ... ) |
Returns a new tensor with the Arguments:
Returns a new tensor with the aggregator applied across dimensions
Available aggregators are:
reduce(t, sum) # Sum all values in tensor reduce(t, count, x) # Count number of cells along dimension xplayground example reduce |
join( tensor1, tensor2, f(x,y)(expr) ) |
Returns a new tensor constructed from the natural join between Arguments:
Returns a new tensor constructed from the natural join
between
Formally, the result of the Examples: join(t1, t2, f(x,y)(x * y))playground example join |
merge( tensor1, tensor2, f(x,y)(expr) ) |
Returns a new tensor consisting of all cells from both the arguments, where the lambda function is used to produce a single value in the cases where both arguments provide a value for a cell. Arguments:
Returns a new tensor having all the cells of both arguments, where the lambda is invoked to produce a single value only when both arguments have a value for the same cell. The argument tensors must have the same type, and that will be the type of the resulting tensor. Example: merge(t1, t2, f(left,right)(right))playground example merge |
tensor( tensor-type-spec )(expr) |
Generates new tensors according to type specification and expression Arguments:
Generates new tensors according to the type specification and expression Useful for creating transformation tensors. Examples: tensor<float>(x[3])(x)playground generate examples |
rename( tensor, dim-to-rename, new-names ) |
Renames one or more dimensions in the tensor. Arguments:
rename(t1,x,z)playground rename examples |
concat( tensor1, tensor2, dim ) |
Concatenates two tensors along dimension Arguments:
tensor1 and
tensor2 concatenated along dimension dim . Examples:
concat(t,t2,x)playground concat examples |
(tensor)partial-address |
Slice - returns a new tensor containing the cells matching the partial address. Arguments:
# a_tensor is of type tensor(key{},x[2]) a_tensor{key:key1,x:1}playground slice examples |
tensor-literal-form |
Returns a new tensor having the type and cell values given explicitly. Each cell value may be supplied by a lambda which can access other features. Returns a new tensor from the literal form, where the type must be specified explicitly. Each value may be supplied by a lambda, which - in contrast to all other lambdas - may refer to features and expressions from the context. Examples: # Declare an indexed tensor tensor(x[2]):[1.0, 2.0]] # Declare an mapped tensor tensor(x{}):{x1:3, x2:4} |
cell_cast( tensor, cell_type ) |
Returns a new tensor that is the same as the argument, except that all cell values are converted to the given cell type. Arguments:
bfloat16 to float :
# With a tensor t of the type tensor<bfloat16>(x[5])(x+1) cell_cast(t, float) |
Some of the primitive functions accept lambda functions that are evaluated and applied to a set of tensor cells. The functions contain a single expression that have the same format and built-in functions as general ranking expressions. However, the atoms are the arguments defined in the argument list of the lambda.
The expression cannot access variables or data structures outside of the lambda, i.e. they are not closures.
Examples:
f(x)(log(x)) f(x,y)(if(x < y, 0, 1))
Non-primitive functions can be implemented by primitive functions, but are not necessarily so for performance reasons.
Function | Description | ||||||||
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acos(t) |
Arc cosine of all elements. |
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t1 + t2 (add) |
Join and sum tensors |
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argmax(t, dim) |
Returns a tensor with cell(s) of the highest value(s) in the tensor set to 1. The dimension argument follows the same format as reduce as multiple dimensions can be given and is optional. |
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argmin(t, dim) |
Returns a tensor with cell(s) of the lowest value(s) in the tensor set to 1. The dimension argument follows the same format as reduce as multiple dimensions can be given and is optional. |
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asin(t) |
Arc sine of all elements. |
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atan(t) |
Arc tangent of all elements. |
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atan2(t1, t2) |
Arctangent of |
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avg(t, dim) |
Reduce the tensor with the |
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ceil(t) |
Ceiling of all elements. |
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count(t, dim) |
Reduce the tensor with the |
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cos(t) |
Cosine of all elements. |
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cosh(t) |
Hyperbolic cosine of all elements. |
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cosine_similarity(t1, t2, dim) |
The cosine similarity between the two vectors in the given dimension. |
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diag(n1, n2) |
Returns a tensor with the diagonal set to 1.0. |
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t1 / t2 (div) |
Join and divide tensors |
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elu(t) |
|
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t1 == t2 (equal) |
Join and determine if each element in |
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euclidean_distance(t1, t2, dim) |
euclidean_distance: |
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exp(t) |
Exponential function (e^x) of each element. |
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expand(t, dim) |
Adds an indexed dimension with name |
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floor(t) |
Floor of each element. |
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t1 > t2 (greater) |
Join and determine if each element in |
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t1 >= t2 (greater or equals) |
Join and determine if each element in |
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t1 < t2 (less) |
Join and determine if each element in |
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t1 <= t2 (less or equals) |
Join and determine if each element in |
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l1_normalize(t, dim) |
L1 normalization: |
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l2_normalize(t, dim) |
L2 normalization: |
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log(t) |
Natural logarithm of each element. |
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log10(t) |
Logarithm with base 10 of each element. |
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matmul(t1, t2, dim) |
Matrix multiplication of two tensors. This is the product of the two tensors summed along a shared dimension. |
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max(t, dim) |
Reduce the tensor with the |
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max(t1, t2) |
Join and return the max of |
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hamming(t1, t2) |
Join and return the Hamming distance between matching cells of
Note that the cell values are always treated as if they were both 8-bit integers in the range [-128,127], and only then counting the number of bits that are different. See also the corresponding distance metric. Arguments can be scalars. |
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median(t, dim) |
Reduce the tensor with the |
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min(t, dim) |
Reduce the tensor with the |
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min(t1, t2) |
Join and return the minimum of |
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mod(t, constant) |
Modulus of |
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t1 * t2 (mul) |
Join and multiply tensors |
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t1 != t2 (not equal) |
Join and determine if each element in |
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pow(t, constant) |
Raise each element to the power of |
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prod(t, dim) |
Reduce the tensor with the |
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random(n1, n2, ...) |
Returns a tensor with random values between 0.0 and 1.0, uniform distribution. |
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range(n) |
Returns a tensor with increasing values. |
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relu(t) |
Rectified linear unit. |
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sigmoid(t) |
Returns the sigmoid of each element. |
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sin(t) |
Sinus of each element. |
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sinh(t) |
Hyperbolic sinus of each element. |
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softmax(t, dim) |
The softmax of the tensor, e.g. |
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sqrt(t) |
The square root of each element. |
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t1 - t2 (subtract) |
Join and subtract tensors |
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sum(t, dim) |
Reduce the tensor with the |
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tan(t) |
The tangent of each element. |
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tanh(t) |
The hyperbolic tangent of each element. |
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unpack_bits(t) |
unpacks bits from int8 input to 8 times as many floats The innermost indexed dimension will expand to have 8 times as many cells,
each with a float value of either 0.0 or 1.0 determined by one bit in
the 8-bit input value. Comparable to |
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unpack_bits(t, cell_type) |
unpacks bits from int8 input to 8 times as many values Same as above, but with optionally different cell_type (could be |
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unpack_bits(t, cell_type, endian) |
unpacks bits from int8 input to 8 times as many values Same as above, but also optionally different endian for the bits; must be
either |
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xw_plus_b(x, w, b, dim) |
Matrix multiplication of |