Operators

The JWT expression parser accepts the most common comparison operators as well as logical operators .

The main purpose of these operators is to construct complex logical comparisons by linking individual expressions.

Comparison operators

The operators, their meaning and the applicable data types you can use them with are listed below.

A comparison always returns a BOOLEAN value.

Overview of all case-sensitive comparison operators

All operators respect the case of the characters.

Operator	Meaning	Examples (all examples return `true`)
`=`	equal to	1=1 true = true [1, 2, 3] = [1, 2, 3] ["blue", "red", "green"] = ["blue", "red", "green"] When working with Lists, each elements' existence and its order are being evaluated.
`!=`	not equal to	0 != 1 "HELLO" != "Hello" %{issue.description} != "Hello" true != false [1, 2, 3] != [1, 3, 2] ["blue", "red", "green"] != ["blue", "green", "red"] When working with Lists, each elements' existence and its order are being evaluated.
`<`	less than	1 < 2 "abc" < "bbc" "abc" < "abcd"
`>`	greater than	2 > 1 "bbc" > "abc" "abcd" > "abc"
`<=`	less than or equal to	3 <= 3
`>=`	greater than or equal to	"Hello world! Hello *" >= "Hello world"
`~`	contains	"Hello world!" ~ "world" #true. The text "world" is contained in the first text. %{issue.components.leads} ~ %{system.currentUser} #checks whether "Component leads" contains the "Current user". [1, 2, 3, 2, 2, 4] ~ [2, 1, 2] #true ["blue", "red", "green", "red", "white", "red"] ~ ["red", "green", "red"] #true ["green", "red"] ~ ["red", "green", "red"] #false
`!~`	does not contain	"world" !~ "Hello world!" #false. The text "world" is contained in the first text. %{issue.fixVersions} !~ %{issue.versions} #false if all "Affects version/s" are also selected as "Fix version/s". [1, 2, 3, 2, 2, 4] !~ [2, 1, 1, 4] #true ["blue", "red", "green", "red", "red"] !~ ["red", "green", "green", "red"] #true
`in`	is contained in	"world" in "Hello world!" #true. The text "world" is contained in the first text. %{system.currentUser} in %{issue.components.leads} #true if current user is a component lead of any of the issue's components [1, 1, 2] in [2, 1, 1, 1, 4] #true ["blue", "red", "red"] in ["red", "green", "blue", "red", "red"] #true 2 in [1, 2, 3] #true "blue" in ["red, "blue", "white"] #true
`not in`	is not contained in	"Hello world!" not in "world" #true %{issue.versions} not in %{issue.fixVersions} #false if all "Affects version/s" are also selected as "Fix version/s". [1, 1, 2, 2] not in [2, 1, 1, 1, 4] #true ["blue", "red", "red", "blue"] not in ["red", "blue", "red", "red"] #true 5 not in [1, 2, 3, 3, 4] #true "orange" not in ["blue", "red", "white"] #true
`any in`	any element is in	%{issue.versions} any in %{issue.fixVersions} # true if any selected "Affects version/s" has also been selected as "Fix version/s". [1, 3] any in [3, 4, 5] #true ["blue", "white"] any in ["black", "white", "green"] #true
`none in`	no single element is in	%{issue.versions} none in %{issue.fixVersions} #true if no selected "Affects version/s" has also been selected as "Fix version/s". [1, 2] none in [3, 4, 5] #true ["blue", "red"] none in ["black", "white", "green"] #true

When comparing lists, the exact number of occurence (cardinality) per element must match.

Parser expression	Output	Description
["blue", "red", "green", "red", "white", "red"] ~ ["red", "green", "red"]	`true`	This expression returns `true`, since the element (text) red appears at least twice in the first list and the element (text) green occurs at least once in the first list.
["green", "red"] ~ ["red", "green", "red"]	`false`	This expression returns `false`, since the element (text) red does not appear twice in the first list.

Overview of all case ignoring comparison operators

The following comparison operators can be used with TEXT and TEXT LIST data types .

All operators ignore the case of the characters.

Operator	Meaning	Examples (all examples return `true`)
`=~`	equal to	"HELLO" =~ "Hello" #true "up" =~ "UP" #true ["blue", "red", "green"] =~ ["Blue", "RED", "Green"] #true
`!=~`	not equal to	" HELLO" !=~ "Hello" #false, since there is a whitespace in the first text "up" !=~ "down" #true ("up" !=~ "UP") #false ["blue", "red"] !=~ ["Blue", "green"] #true ["blue", "red"] !=~ ["Red", "BLUE"] #true ["blue", "red", "green"] !=~ ["Blue", "RED", "Green"] #false
`~~`	contains	"Hello World!" ~~ "world" #true, checks whether a text contains a substring. "A small step for a man" ~~ "STEP" #true ["one", "two", "three"] ~~ ["TWO", "One"] #true, checks whether a text list contains all the elements of another text list.
`!~~`	does not contain	"Hello World!" !~~ "bye" #true, checks whether a text does not contain a substring. "A small step for a man" !~~ "big" #true ["one", "two", "three"] !~~ ["Four"] #true, checks whether a text list does not contain a single element of another text list. (["one", "two", "three"] !~~ ["TWO"]) = false
`in~`	is contained in	"world" in~ "Hello World!" #true, checks whether a substring is contained in another text. "STEP" in~ "A small step for a man" #true ["TWO", "One"] in~ ["one", "two", "three"] #true, checks whether all the elements of a text list are contained in another text list.
`not in~`	is not contained in	"bye" not in~ "Hello World!" #true, checks whether a substring is not contained in another text. "big" not in~ "A small step for a man" #true ["Four"] not in~ ["one", "two", "three"] #true, checks whether any of the elements of a text list are not contained in another text list. ["TWO"] not in~ ["one", "two", "three"] #false
`any in~`	any element is in	["blue", "violet"] any in~ ["Blue", "Red", "Green"] #true ["Five", "One"] any in~ ["FOUR", "FIVE", "SIX"]"bye" #true
`none in~`	no single element is in	["Orange"] none in~ ["red", "blue", "green"] #true, checks whether none of the elements of a text list are not contained in another text list. ["orange"] none in~ ["Red", "Orange"] #false

Applicable data types

Below you find a comprehensive matrix of all operators and applicable data types .

Comparison Operator	BOOLEAN	NUMBER	TEXT	NUMBER LIST	TEXT LIST	ISSUE LIST
`=`
`!=`
`<`	-			-	-	-
`>`	-			-	-	-
`<=`	-			-	-	-
`>=`	-			-	-	-
`~`	-	-
`!~`	-	-
`in`	-	-
`not in`	-	-
`any in`	-	-	-
`none in`	-	-	-
`=~`	-	-		-		-
`!=~`	-	-		-		-
`~~`	-	-		-		-
`!~~`	-	-		-		-
`in~`	-	-		-		-
`not in~`	-	-		-		-
`any in~`	-	-	-	-		-
`none in~`	-	-	-	-		-

Please be aware the both operands of the respective comparison must have the same data type. The only exceptions are the following:

Automatic casting from NUMBER to TEXT: Whenever you write a numeric term at the right-hand side of a comparison operator like =, and the left-hand side is occupied by a text term, the parser will automatically transform the right-hand side term into a text (e.g. "30" = 30 will be interpreted the same way as "30" = "30")
Single values as operand in list operations: Operators ~, !~, in and not in can be used for checking a single element (NUMBER or TEXT) against a NUMBER LIST or a TEXT LIST
Comparison with the null value: A field which is not set or an empty text is interpreted as null. A NUMBER field, which doesn't contain a number, is also interpreted as null.

Things to remember

Remember	Examples
Operators `~, !~, in` and `not in` can be used for checking a single element (NUMBER or TEXT) against a NUMBER LIST or a TEXT LIST	1 in [1, 2, 3] ["blue", "red"] ~ "blue"
Operators `~, !~, in` and `not in` when used with a text are useful to look for substrings in another string.	"I love coding" ~ "love" "I don't like Mondays" !~ "Fridays" "love" in "I love coding" "Fridays" not in "I don't like Mondays"
Operators `~, !~, in` and `not in` respect cardinality, i.e., container list must have at least the same number of elements as contained list.	[1, 1] in [1, 1, 1] [1, 1] not in [1, 2, 3]
Operators `=` and `!=` , when used for comparing lists, require to have the same elements, with the same cardinality and the same order.	[1, 2, 3] = [1, 2, 3] [4, 5, 6] != [4, 6, 5]
Operators `<, >, <=` and `>=` work according to lexicographical order when comparing text.	1 < 2 "abc" < "bbc" "abcd" > "abc"

Logical operators

The table below lists all logical operators that can be used for linking logical terms in an expression.

Logical operators take logical terms (which return BOOLEAN values) as operands and can thus be built using:

a boolean value
a JWT expression parser function returning a boolean value
a comparison
a logical term enclosed by brackets ()
two logical terms connected with a logical operator, where boolean literals and comparisons themselves are logical terms.

Logical operators can only be used in logical expressions in the Logical mode or in combination with the conditional operator.

Overview of all logical operators

Operator	Meaning	Precedence
`NOT` or `!`	logical negation	1 (highest)
`AND` or `&`	logical conjunction	2
`OR` or `\|`	logical disjunction	3
`XOR`	exclusive or, i.e., `a XOR b` is equivalent to `a AND !b OR !a AND b`	3
`IMPLIES` or `IMP`	logical implication, i.e., `a IMPLIES b` is equivalent to `!a OR b`	4
`XNOR` or `EQV`	logical equivalence, i.e., `a EQV b` is equivalent to `a IMPLIES b AND b IMPLIES a`	4 (lowest)

A single logical term can be enclosed by brackets () in order to increase the readability of the expressions or to define a precedence which differs from the given one.

Logical operators can also be written in lower case (e.g. and, or)

Conditional operator

The conditional operator ? : is a powerful operator to construct conditional expressions.

It basically allows you to construct the following expression: IF logical_expression true THEN term_1 ELSE term_2.

<logical_expression> ? <term_1> : <term_2>

The conditional operator is extremely helpful when being used in calculated fields.

Examples of using the conditional operator

Expression	Description
%{issue.priority} = "Highest" ? "Please have a look at this issue immediately" : "No stress, come back later"	IF the priority of an issue is Blocker, THEN this function will return "Please have a look at this issue immediately" ELSE it will return "No stress, come back later".
{issue.duedate} != null ? ({...duedate} - {...currentDateTime}) / {HOUR} : 0	IF an issue does have a due date set (due date is not null), THEN this function will return the number of hours from the current date-time to the due date ELSE it will return `0`.
%{issue.somefield} = "Red" ? "Color" : "No color"	IF a custom field (e.g. a select list) has a value of Red, THEN this function will return "Color", ELSE it will return "No color".
timePart({...currentDateTime}, LOCAL) > 21:00 AND timePart({...currentDateTime}, LOCAL) < 7:00 ? "Night" : "Day"	IF the current time is between 21:00 and 7:00 THEN this function will return "Night" , ELSE it will return "Day".

List operators

Function	Short description	Output
APPEND	Combines the elements of two lists.	LIST
UNION	Returns distinct elements of two lists.	LIST
INTERSECT	Returns common elements of two lists.	LIST
EXCEPT	Removes certain elements from a list.	LIST

Order of operations

If you use multiple operators in a single expression, they will follow a certain order in which they are processed or a precedence.

OPERATORS	PRECEDENCE	ASSOCIATIVITY
INTERSECT	1 (highest)	Left-to-right
APPEND, EXCEPT, UNION	2 (lowest)	Left-to-right

When using the list operators, you have to make sure that both lists that you compare are of the same type.
All operators are case insensitive, i.e., they can also be written in lower case: append, union, intersect and except .
There are four equivalent functions available for each type of list, and their behavior is exactly equivalent to that of its corresponding operator.
This way, you can choose to use operators or functions according to your preference. Although operators yield shorter expressions and with fewer parentheses, the usage of functions produces a more functional consistent syntax.

If you still have questions, feel free to refer to our support team.

Content

Space Tools

Comparison operators

Logical operators

Conditional operator

List operators

Order of operations