FQL v4 will be decommissioned on June 30, 2025. Ensure that you complete your migration from FQL v4 to FQL v10 by that date.

Fauna accounts created after August 21, 2024 must use FQL v10. These accounts will not be able to run FQL v4 queries or access the v4 Dashboard.

For more details, see the v4 EOL announcement and migration guide. Contact support@fauna.com with any questions.

Unsigned integer subtraction

Problem

You want to perform subtraction where the result is unsigned and never negative.

Solution

When a subtraction result would be negative, the answer should be zero. The following query creates a UDF that performs the calculation:

client.query(
  q.CreateFunction({
    name: 'subtract_unsigned',
    body: q.Query(
      q.Lambda(
        ['a', 'b'],
        q.Let(
          {
            diff: q.Subtract(q.Var('a'), q.Var('b')),
            negative: q.Not(q.Equals(q.Var('diff'), q.Abs(q.Var('diff')))),
          },
          q.If(q.Var('negative'), 0, q.Var('diff'))
        )
      )
    ),
  })
)
.then((ret) => console.log(ret))
.catch((err) => console.error(
  'Error: [%s] %s: %s',
  err.name,
  err.message,
  err.errors()[0].description,
))
result = client.query(
  q.create_function({
    "name": "subtract_unsigned",
    "body": q.query(
      q.lambda_(
        ["a", "b"],
        q.let(
          {
            "diff": q.subtract(q.var("a"), q.var("b")),
            "negative": q.not_(q.equals(q.var("diff"), q.abs(q.var("diff"))))
          },
          q.if_(q.var("negative"), 0, q.var("diff"))
        )
      )
    )
  })
)
print(result)
result, err := client.Query(
	f.CreateFunction(
		f.Obj{
			"name": "subtract_unsigned",
			"body": f.Query(
				f.Lambda(
					f.Arr{"a", "b"},
					f.Let().Bind(
						"diff", f.Subtract(f.Var("a"), f.Var("b")),
					).Bind(
						"negative", f.Not(
							f.Equals(f.Var("diff"), f.Abs(f.Var("diff"))),
						),
					).In(
						f.If(f.Var("negative"), 0, f.Var("diff")),
					),
				),
			),
		},
	))

if err != nil {
	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
} else {
	fmt.Println(result)
}
try
{
    Value result = await client.Query(
        CreateFunction(
            Obj(
                "name", "subtract_unsigned",
                "body", Query(
                    Lambda(
                        Arr("a", "b"),
                        Let(
                            "diff", Subtract(Var("a"), Var("b")),
                            "negative", Not(
                                EqualsFn(Var("diff"), Abs(Var("diff")))
                            )
                        ).In(
                            If(Var("negative"), 0, Var("diff"))
                        )
                    )
                )
            )
        )
    );
    Console.WriteLine(result);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"ERROR: {e.Message}");
}
System.out.println(
    client.query(
        CreateFunction(
            Obj(
                "name", Value("subtract_unsigned"),
                "body", Query(
                    Lambda(
                        Arr(Value("a"), Value("b")),
                        Let(
                            "diff", Subtract(Var("a"), Var("b")),
                            "negative", Not(
                                Equals(Var("diff"), Abs(Var("diff")))
                            )
                        ).in(
                            If(Var("negative"), Value(0), Var("diff"))
                        )
                    )
                )
            )
        )
    ).get());
CreateFunction({
  name: "subtract_unsigned",
  body: Query(
    Lambda(
      ["a", "b"],
      Let(
        {
          diff: Subtract(Var("a"), Var("b")),
          negative: Not(Equals(Var("diff"), Abs(Var("diff"))))
        },
        If(Var("negative"), 0, Var("diff"))
      )
    )
  )
})
Query metrics:
  •    bytesIn:  296

  •   bytesOut:  398

  • computeOps:    1

  •    readOps:    0

  •   writeOps:    1

  •  readBytes:   30

  • writeBytes:  504

  •  queryTime: 37ms

  •    retries:    0

The following query calls the UDF with parameters that return a positive result:

client.query(
  q.Call('subtract_unsigned', 123, 45)
)
.then((ret) => console.log(ret))
.catch((err) => console.error(
  'Error: [%s] %s: %s',
  err.name,
  err.message,
  err.errors()[0].description,
))
78
result = client.query(
  q.call("subtract_unsigned", 123, 45)
)
print(result)
78
result, err := client.Query(
	f.Call("subtract_unsigned", 123, 45))

if err != nil {
	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
} else {
	fmt.Println(result)
}
78
try
{
    Value result = await client.Query(
        Call("subtract_unsigned", 123, 45)
    );
    Console.WriteLine(result);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"ERROR: {e.Message}");
}
LongV(78)
System.out.println(
    client.query(
        Call(Value("subtract_unsigned"), Value(123), Value(45))
    ).get());
78
Call("subtract_unsigned", 123, 45)
78
Query metrics:
  •    bytesIn:  49

  •   bytesOut:  15

  • computeOps:   1

  •    readOps:   0

  •   writeOps:   0

  •  readBytes:   0

  • writeBytes:   0

  •  queryTime: 9ms

  •    retries:   0

The following query calls the UDF with parameters that return what would have been a negative result:

client.query(
  q.Call('subtract_unsigned', 45, 123)
)
.then((ret) => console.log(ret))
.catch((err) => console.error(
  'Error: [%s] %s: %s',
  err.name,
  err.message,
  err.errors()[0].description,
))
0
result = client.query(
  q.call("subtract_unsigned", 45, 123)
)
print(result)
0
result, err := client.Query(
	f.Call("subtract_unsigned", 45, 123))

if err != nil {
	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
} else {
	fmt.Println(result)
}
0
try
{
    Value result = await client.Query(
        Call("subtract_unsigned", 45, 123)
    );
    Console.WriteLine(result);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"ERROR: {e.Message}");
}
LongV(0)
System.out.println(
    client.query(
        Call(Value("subtract_unsigned"), Value(45), Value(123))
    ).get());
0
Call("subtract_unsigned", 45, 123)
0
Query metrics:
  •    bytesIn:  49

  •   bytesOut:  14

  • computeOps:   1

  •    readOps:   0

  •   writeOps:   0

  •  readBytes:   0

  • writeBytes:   0

  •  queryTime: 2ms

  •    retries:   0

Is this article helpful? 

Tell Fauna how the article can be improved:
Visit Fauna's forums or email docs@fauna.com

Thank you for your feedback!