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DEFINE

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Introduces a statement with one or more entity definitions that can be applied to one or more EVALUATE statements of a DAX query.

Syntax

[DEFINE 
    (
     (MEASURE <table name>[<measure name>] = <scalar expression>) | 
     (VAR <var name> = <table or scalar expression>) |
     (TABLE <table name> = <table expression>) | 
     (COLUMN <table name>[<column name>] = <scalar expression>) | 
    ) + 
]

(EVALUATE <table expression>) +

Parameters

Term Definition
Entity MEASURE, VAR, TABLE1, or COLUMN1.
name The name of a measure, var, table, or column definition. It cannot be an expression. The name does not have to be unique. The name exists only for the duration of the query.
expression Any DAX expression that returns a table or scalar value. The expression can use any of the defined entities. If there is a need to convert a scalar expression into a table expression, wrap the expression inside a table constructor with curly braces {}, or use the ROW() function to return a single row table.

[1] Caution: Query scoped TABLE and COLUMN definitions are meant for internal use only. While you can define TABLE and COLUMN expressions for a query without syntax error, they may produce runtime errors and are not recommended.

Remarks

  • A DAX query can have multiple EVALUATE statements, but can have only one DEFINE statement. Definitions in the DEFINE statement can apply to any EVALUATE statements in the query.

  • At least one definition is required in a DEFINE statement.

  • Measure definitions for a query override model measures of the same name.

  • VAR names have unique restrictions. To learn more, see VAR - Parameters.

  • To learn more about how a DEFINE statement is used, see DAX queries.

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EVALUATE
VAR
MEASURE
DAX queries