Explain the String Function ' STARTSWITH ' in Tableau with Example?

In Tableau, the STARTSWITH function is used to determine whether a string value starts with a specific substring or pattern. It returns a Boolean (True or False) value based on the evaluation.

The syntax for the STARTSWITH function in Tableau is as follows:

STARTSWITH(string, substring)

Here's an example to illustrate how the STARTSWITH function works:

Let's say we have a dataset that contains a column named "Product" with various product names. We want to identify all the products that start with the word "Apple."

Product

Apple iPhone

Apple MacBook

Samsung Galaxy

Apple Watch

Sony PlayStation

In Tableau, we can create a calculated field using the STARTSWITH function to identify the products that start with "Apple." Let's call this calculated field "Is Apple Product."

STARTSWITH([Product], "Apple")

The above expression compares each value in the "Product" column with the substring "Apple" and returns True if it starts with "Apple" and False if it doesn't.

Applying this calculated field to our dataset, the result would be:

Product                                             Is Apple Product

Apple iPhone                                         True

Apple MacBook                                 True

Samsung Galaxy                                 False

Apple Watch                                         True

Sony PlayStation                                 False

As you can see, the "Is Apple Product" column indicates whether each product starts with the word "Apple" or not.

By utilizing the STARTSWITH function, you can perform string comparisons and filter or manipulate data based on specific patterns or substrings within your dataset.