Skip to content

Equal To Anomaly Reporting

How the Equal To check reports violations: the anomaly messages it produces, what the numbers mean, how the offending value appears in Source Records, and how to replace the default message with a value from your own data.

Anomaly Messages

At 100% coverage, Equal To reports violating rows as Record Anomalies. Below 100% coverage, a failed coverage assertion produces one Shape Anomaly for the dataset. The two templates are:

Record Anomaly

The field '<field_name>' is not equal to the expected value of <value>

Shape Anomaly

For the field '<field_name>', X.XXX% of N records (K) are not equal to the value of <value>

When a filter is set, both Record and Shape Anomaly messages end with [filter: <expression>].

Scan settings can group a large number of Record Anomalies into one rolled-up Shape Anomaly. This behavior applies across rule types and is documented under Maximum Record Anomalies per Check.

What the Numbers Mean

  • X.XXX%: the fraction of filtered rows where at least one selected field does not equal the value.
  • N: the total number of rows the check evaluated (after the filter, if any). Rows with NULL values count in this total, and by default they count in K as well, because a NULL fails the comparison.
  • K: the number of rows that fail the comparison.

Source Records Behavior

The offending cell is highlighted with an orange outline and an orange-tinted background in the Source Records view. On a multi-field check, the message names the field that failed, so read it together with the highlighted cell.

Custom Anomaly Description

Equal To supports Custom Anomaly Description because it emits Record Anomalies. When anomaly_message_field (or the Custom Anomaly Description toggle in the UI) is set to another column on the same row, the Record Anomaly message becomes the value of that column for the violating row. When the referenced column is null, missing, or empty, the standard template is used instead.

Because the option only applies to Record Anomalies, it does not affect Shape Anomalies, which always use the fixed template.

See Also

  • Examples

    Three production scenarios with sample data, anomaly messages, and the SQL equivalent of what the check evaluates.

    Examples

  • Best Practices

    Guidelines for pinning constants, using tolerance, and choosing between Equal To and its alternatives.

    Best Practices

  • Permissions

    The team permission each action needs: view, create, edit, archive, restore, and delete.

    Permissions

  • How It Works

    The complete reference: definition, field scope, the expected value, inclusivity, the numeric tolerance, NULL handling, filter behavior, and coverage.

    How It Works