Abs

By Goblin Docs ~ 7 min read

abs returns the distance between a number and zero.

Overview

Use abs when you care about the size of a difference, not whether it is positive or negative.

temperature_change | -12
distance_from_zero | abs(temperature_change)

:say(distance_from_zero)  /// 12

temperature_change | -12
distance_from_zero | abs(temperature_change)

:say(distance_from_zero)  /// 12

Positive values stay positive, and zero stays zero:

abs(8)   /// 8
abs(0)   /// 0
abs(-8)  /// 8

abs(8)   /// 8
abs(0)   /// 0
abs(-8)  /// 8

abs(number)

abs(number)

Argument	Type	Description
`number`	int, float, pct, or big	The number whose absolute value you want.

abs returns the same numeric kind for int, float, and big values. A pct input returns a float.

abs(-14)       /// 14
abs(-2.75)     /// 2.75
abs(pct(-40))  /// 0.4
abs(big(-900)) /// 900

abs(-14)       /// 14
abs(-2.75)     /// 2.75
abs(pct(-40))  /// 0.4
abs(big(-900)) /// 900

abs requires exactly one argument:

abs()
/// error: R0301 wrong-arity

abs()
/// error: R0301 wrong-arity

Passing a non-numeric value raises a numeric-expected error:

abs("twelve")
/// error: R0200 numeric-expected: abs requires a numeric value

abs("twelve")
/// error: R0200 numeric-expected: abs requires a numeric value