--- title: "ends_with" slug: "dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-ends-with" updated: 2026-10-30T18:18:56Z published: 2026-10-30T18:18:56Z canonical: "docs.vastdata.com/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-ends-with" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vastdata.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # ends_with *Applies to VAST Cluster 5.5.* *[Functions](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-index) › [Search and split](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-search-and-split) › Searching.* Returns true if a string ends with a given suffix. `suffix` is the same function, and the Query Engine rewrites `LIKE '%ab'` to it. ## Syntax ``` ends_with(s, suffix) suffix(s, suffix) ``` | Argument | Type | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | `s` | `VARCHAR` | The string to test. | | `suffix` | `VARCHAR` | The text `s` must end with. | **Returns:** `BOOLEAN`. **Aliases:** `suffix`. ## Set up the examples The examples connect with the ADBC driver, as in [VAST Query Engine (ADBC)](/develop/docs/dev-database-integrations-adbc), and work in a schema called `docs_sql_fn_string_ends_with`. Set `QE_ENDPOINT`, `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`, `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` and `VASTDB_BUCKET` ([SQL reference](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-index#example-connect-and-use-a-transaction)), and run the blocks in order in one Python session. Below each block is the output you should see. This block connects, defines the `run()` and `plan()` helpers, and creates a table of four files. Rows 2 and 3 hold the same word, `café`, with the accent written two ways: as one character (U+00E9) and as `e` followed by a combining accent (U+0301). The last row has no values: ``` import os import re import adbc_driver_manager import adbc_driver_manager.dbapi as dbapi import adbc_driver_vastdb BUCKET = os.environ["VASTDB_BUCKET"] SCHEMA = f'"{BUCKET}/docs_sql_fn_string_ends_with"' conn = dbapi.connect( driver=adbc_driver_vastdb.get_driver_path(), db_kwargs={ "vast.db.endpoint": os.environ["QE_ENDPOINT"], "vast.db.access_key": os.environ["AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"], "vast.db.secret_key": os.environ["AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"], }, autocommit=True, ) def server_message(e): """The server's message in a driver error, without the request ID or the echoed statement.""" text = re.sub(r"\[req=0x[0-9a-f]+\]: ", "", str(e)) found = (re.search(r'message: "(.*?)", request_id', text, re.S) or re.search(r"description: (.*)\)", text, re.S)) message = found.group(1) if found else text.strip().splitlines()[-1] message = re.sub(r"^Plan query: '.*?' failed with: ", "", message, flags=re.S) message = re.split(r"\\n|\n", message)[0].replace('\\"', '"') return message.replace(BUCKET, "") def run(sql): """Run one statement. Print the rows it returns, or the error.""" try: with conn.cursor() as cur: cur.execute(sql) rows = cur.fetchall() if cur.description else [] except (adbc_driver_manager.Error, OSError) as e: print(f"{type(e).__name__}: {server_message(e)}") else: print(rows) def plan(sql): """Print the plan without its ~N Rows lines: the table's row count, which can still be 0 just after an insert.""" with conn.cursor() as cur: cur.execute("EXPLAIN " + sql) steps = cur.fetchall()[0][1] print("\n".join(line for line in steps.splitlines() if "Rows" not in line)) TABLE = f"{SCHEMA}.files" run(f"CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS {SCHEMA}") run(f"CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS {TABLE} (id BIGINT, path VARCHAR, note VARCHAR)") run(f"INSERT INTO {TABLE} VALUES " "(1, '/logs/app/2026-10-13.log', 'Disk full'), " "(2, '/logs/db/2026-10-12.log', 'menu caf\u00e9'), " "(3, '/tmp/load_50%.csv', 'menu cafe\u0301'), " "(4, NULL, NULL)") ``` ``` [] [] [(4,)] ``` ## What it does `ends_with(s, suffix)` is true when the last characters of `s` are exactly `suffix`. The comparison is code point by code point: - **Case matters.** `ends_with('abC', 'c')` is false. To ignore case, test `lower(s)` ([lower](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-lower)) or use [ILIKE](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-ilike) `'%ab'`. - **Wildcards and spaces are plain characters.** `ends_with('a%', '%')` is true; `ends_with('abc ', 'c')` is false because of the trailing space. - **Accents must be written the same way.** `ends_with('cafe\u0301', 'é')` (a decomposed `é` in the string, a precomposed one in the suffix) is false, and `ends_with('cafe\u0301', '\u0301')` is true: the string ends with the combining accent. Normalise the column with [nfc_normalize](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-nfc-normalize) when its text may be written either way. - **An empty suffix matches every string,** including the empty string. ## NULLs and edge cases | Input | Result | | --- | --- | | `ends_with(NULL, 'ld')`, `ends_with('abc', NULL)` | `NULL` | | `ends_with('abc', '')`, `ends_with('', '')` | `true` | | `ends_with('', 'a')` | `false` | | `ends_with('abc', 'zabc')` (suffix longer than the string) | `false` | | `ends_with('abC', 'c')` | `false` | | `ends_with('abc ', 'c')` (trailing space) | `false` | | `ends_with('a%', '%')` | `true` | | `ends_with('café', 'é')` (both precomposed) | `true` | | `ends_with('cafe\u0301', 'é')` (decomposed string, precomposed suffix) | `false` | | `ends_with('cafe\u0301', '\u0301')` (the combining accent alone) | `true` | | `ends_with('x🇫🇷', '🇷')` (the second half of a flag emoji) | `true` | | A number, date, boolean, `BLOB` or list on either side | Error: `No function matches the given name and argument types` | The same cases, as the cluster returns them. They use the table and helpers from [Set up the examples](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-ends-with#set-up-the-examples): ``` run("SELECT ends_with(NULL, 'ld'), ends_with('abc', NULL), ends_with('abc', ''), ends_with('', ''), " "ends_with('', 'a'), ends_with('abc', 'zabc')") run("SELECT ends_with('abC', 'c'), ends_with('abc ', 'c'), ends_with('a%', '%')") run("SELECT ends_with('caf\u00e9', '\u00e9'), ends_with('cafe\u0301', '\u00e9'), ends_with('cafe\u0301', '\u0301'), " "ends_with('x\U0001F1EB\U0001F1F7', '\U0001F1F7')") run("SELECT ends_with(123, 'ld')") ``` ``` [(None, None, True, True, False, False)] [(False, False, True)] [(True, False, True, True)] InternalError: Binder Error: No function matches the given name and argument types 'ends_with(INTEGER_LITERAL, STRING_LITERAL)'. You might need to add explicit type casts. ``` ## Examples Test each path for a file extension with both spellings. The row with no path gives `NULL`: ``` run(f"SELECT id, ends_with(path, '.log'), suffix(path, '.csv') FROM {TABLE} ORDER BY id LIMIT 10") ``` ``` [(1, True, False), (2, True, False), (3, False, True), (4, None, None)] ``` Keep the log files: ``` run(f"SELECT id, path FROM {TABLE} WHERE ends_with(path, '.log') ORDER BY id LIMIT 10") ``` ``` [(1, '/logs/app/2026-10-13.log'), (2, '/logs/db/2026-10-12.log')] ``` Rows 2 and 3 both end with `café` on screen, but only row 2 matches a precomposed suffix until the column is normalised: ``` run(f"SELECT id, ends_with(note, 'caf\u00e9'), ends_with(nfc_normalize(note), 'caf\u00e9') FROM {TABLE} " "ORDER BY id LIMIT 10") ``` ``` [(1, False, False), (2, True, True), (3, False, True), (4, None, None)] ``` ## How it runs in VAST The Query Engine runs on the cluster's CNodes, and a query on a table starts with a scan in VAST DataBase (`VAST_SCAN`). VAST DataBase can evaluate a comparison of a column with a constant, but not a function of a column, so `ends_with()` is always computed by the Query Engine: - **In the `SELECT` list,** the scan reads the column and the Query Engine computes `ends_with()` for each row it returns. - **In `WHERE`,** the scan sends the column for every row, and a `FILTER` step in the Query Engine keeps the rows that match. No rows are skipped in storage. `LIKE '%ab'` and `regexp_matches(s, 'ab$')` are rewritten to `suffix(s, 'ab')`, so they run the same way. The plans show the `FILTER` step above the scan: ``` plan(f"SELECT id FROM {TABLE} WHERE ends_with(path, '.log')") plan(f"SELECT id FROM {TABLE} WHERE path LIKE '%.log'") ``` ``` ┌───────────────────────────┐ │ PROJECTION │ │ ──────────────────── │ │ #1 │ │ │ └─────────────┬─────────────┘ ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐ │ FILTER │ │ ──────────────────── │ │ ends_with(path, '.log') │ │ │ └─────────────┬─────────────┘ ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐ │ VAST_SCAN │ │ ──────────────────── │ │ Function: VAST_SCAN │ │ │ │ Projections: │ │ path │ │ id │ │ │ └───────────────────────────┘ ┌───────────────────────────┐ │ PROJECTION │ │ ──────────────────── │ │ #1 │ │ │ └─────────────┬─────────────┘ ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐ │ FILTER │ │ ──────────────────── │ │ suffix(path, '.log') │ │ │ └─────────────┬─────────────┘ ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐ │ VAST_SCAN │ │ ──────────────────── │ │ Function: VAST_SCAN │ │ │ │ Projections: │ │ path │ │ id │ │ │ └───────────────────────────┘ ``` ## Make it faster - **Store what you filter on.** If you often filter on a file extension, write it to its own column when you load the rows: `ext = 'log'` is pushed down to VAST DataBase, so rows that don't match never leave storage. The plan for a raw column compared with a constant has no `FILTER` step: ``` plan(f"SELECT id FROM {TABLE} WHERE path = '/logs/app/2026-10-13.log'") ``` ``` ┌───────────────────────────┐ │ VAST_SCAN │ │ ──────────────────── │ │ Function: VAST_SCAN │ │ Projections: id │ │ │ └───────────────────────────┘ ``` - **Combine it with a pushed-down condition.** In `id > 1 AND ends_with(path, '.log')`, `id > 1` is still evaluated in VAST DataBase, so `ends_with()` runs only on the rows that pass it. - **`LIKE '%ab'` isn't faster.** It becomes the same `suffix()` call. ## Limitations and errors - **Strings only.** A number, a date, a boolean, a `BLOB` or a list on either side fails with `No function matches the given name and argument types`, for example `'ends_with(INTEGER_LITERAL, STRING_LITERAL)'`. Cast the value to `VARCHAR` first. - **No `endswith`.** The name without the underscore fails with `Scalar Function with name endswith does not exist!`. Use `ends_with`. - **Exact code points.** See [What it does](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-ends-with#what-it-does) for case and accents. ``` run("SELECT ends_with(CAST(2026 AS VARCHAR), '26')") run("SELECT endswith('abc', 'c')") ``` ``` [(True,)] InternalError: Catalog Error: Scalar Function with name endswith does not exist! ``` ## Similar functions | Function | Tests | Where it runs in `WHERE` | | --- | --- | --- | | `ends_with`, `suffix` | the end of the string | `FILTER` step | | [LIKE](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-like) `'%ld'` | the same; rewritten to `suffix()` | `FILTER` step | | [regexp_matches](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-regexp-matches) `(s, 'ld$')` | the same; rewritten to `suffix()` | `FILTER` step | | [starts_with](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-starts-with) | the beginning of the string | `FILTER` step | | [contains](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-contains) | anywhere in the string | `FILTER` step | | [right](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-right) `(s, n) = suffix` | the last `n` code points, compared | `FILTER` step | ``` run("SELECT ends_with('Hello World', 'ld'), suffix('Hello World', 'ld'), 'Hello World' LIKE '%ld', " "regexp_matches('Hello World', 'ld$'), right('Hello World', 2) = 'ld'") run("SELECT starts_with('Hello World', 'He'), contains('Hello World', 'o W')") ``` ``` [(True, True, True, True, True)] [(True, True)] ``` Clean up: ``` run(f"DROP TABLE IF EXISTS {TABLE}") run(f"DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS {SCHEMA}") conn.close() ``` ``` [] [] ``` ## See also - [Search and split](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-functions-string-search-and-split): all the search functions. - [Where filters run](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-select#where-filters-run) and [pushdowns](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-pushdowns). - [EXPLAIN](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-explain): how to read a plan.