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Split Records from Array

The Split Records from Array processor allows you to create many records from a single record, by splitting out new records for each element in an input array.

Use

Use Split Records from Array where data that should be represented in many records has been wrongly captured in a single record; that is, to normalize data that has been wrongly denormalized.

Often, the denormalized data that you need to split out needs to be pre-processed, before using this processor. For example, in the following Orders table, multiple orders (with multiple order numbers and product descriptions) have been wrongly entered into a single record, using free text fields:

Order_ID	Order_Number	Product_Desc
O574112	2788143 / 2788144	Home PC Package / Colour Printer

In this case, the Order_Number and Product_Desc attributes both need simple pre-processing using the Make Array from String processor to create arrays using the / character as a separator. The arrays can then be input into Split Records from Array to split out the records as follows:

Order_ID	Order_Number.normalized	Product_Desc.normalized
O574112	2788143	Home PC Package
O574112	2788144	Colour Printer

Note above that many array attributes may be input to this processor. In this case, the number of output records for each input record will correspond to the number of elements in the array attribute with the largest number of elements. Data from each attribute that is not input is simply copied to all of the output records created from each input record. For example, if you split the following record, inputting Title.array and FirstName.array:

Cust_ID	Title.array	FirstName.array	Surname
13451	{Mr}{Mrs}	{John}{Dorothy}{James}	Smith

...then the output records will be as follows:

Cust_ID.normalized	Title.array.normalized	FirstName.array.normalized	Surname.normalized
13451	Mr	John	Smith
13451	Mrs	Dorothy	Smith
13451		James	Smith

Note that Title.array.normalized is Null for the last record, as there is no array element in Title.array that corresponds with the third element in FirstName.array.

Configuration

Inputs

One or more Array attributes that you wish to use to split records.

Options

None.

Outputs

Data attributes

Data attribute	Type	Purpose	Value
[Attribute Name].Split	Added	Holds the normalized attribute value for each input array attribute after record splitting.	The normalized attribute value after record splitting, where each element of the input array will be output as a single value.

Flags

Flag attribute	Purpose	Possible Values
[Attribute Name].SplitFlag	To indicate whether the split from array was successful	Y/N

Execution

Execution Mode	Supported
Batch	Yes
Real time Monitoring	Yes
Real time Response	Yes

Results Browsing

Statistic	Meaning
Input records	The number of records that were input (that is, before splitting)
Output records	The number of records that were output (that is, after splitting). Drill-down to see all output records
Split %	The percentage of input records that were split into multiple output records. Drill-down to see the output records where a split occurred (that is, records where one of the input array attributes contained more than one element)

Note: To see a full view of all the output records after splitting records, click on the Data View in the results browser.

Output Filters

None

Example

In this example, a data set of People's Names is being prepared for matching. The data contains a number of aliases and alternative spellings for people's names. These are pre-processed into a single Aliases.Array attribute, and then split out using Split Records from Array so that each name can be matched separately.

Data View (All records)