Pig always instantiate UDF using the construct parameter defined in "define" statement. ". CONTAINS_STRINGS(haystack) only pass haystack to CONTAINS_STRINGS.exec(). It will not re-initializing the UDF.

Daniel

Zach Bailey wrote:
 I am trying to do what seems like should be a simple task using pig and a UDF 
I have written but can't seem to figure out the syntax to get it working.


At a high level I have a UDF that takes a number of strings that I then want to see if 
exist in some other strings. So I write a UDF called CONTAINS_ANY that I would like to 
initialize with the "needles" and then use pig to distribute this search out 
via hadoop.


The problem is I can't figure out what the correct syntax is to initialize the UDF with 
the "needles" and then use the UDF later once it has been initialized. I have 
tried the following syntax:


define CONTAINS_STRINGS com.my.piggybank.CONTAINS_ANY('string1|string2');


and then invoking this by doing


filtered = FILTER data BY CONTAINS_STRINGS(haystack);


but this ends up re-initializing the UDF with the strings from the haystack 
which is not what I wanted.


Essentially I want to be able to write a UDF that is like the built-in MATCHES 
function so I can say something like:


filtered = FILTER data by haystack CONTAINS_STRINGS('string1|string2');


but so far have been unable to find any useful/relevant documentation on how to 
accomplish this.


Thanks a lot for any pointers or help anyone can give.


Best,
Zach


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