VectorDistance (NoSQL query)
APPLIES TO: NoSQL
Returns the similarity score between two specified vectors.
Syntax
VectorDistance(<vector_expr1>, <vector_expr2>, [<bool_expr>], [<obj_expr>])
Arguments
Description | |
---|---|
spatial_expr_1 |
An array of float32 or smaller. |
spatial_expr_2 |
An array of float32 or smaller. |
bool_expr |
A boolean specifying how the computed value is used in an ORDER BY expression. If true , then brute force is used. A value of false uses any index defined on the vector property, if it exists. Default value is false . |
obj_expr |
A JSON formatted object literal used to specify options for the vector distance calculation. Valid items include distanceFunction and dataType . |
distanceFunction |
The metric used to compute distance/similarity. |
dataType |
The data type of the vectors. float32 , int8 , uint8 values. Default value is float32 . |
Supported metrics for distanceFunction
are:
cosine
, which has values from-1
(least similar) to+1
(most similar).dotproduct
, which has values from-∞
(-inf
) (least similar) to+∞
(+inf
) (most similar).euclidean
, which has values from0
(most similar) to+∞
(+inf
) (least similar).
Return types
Returns a numeric expression that enumerates the similarity score between two expressions.
Examples
This first example shows a top 10 vector search query with only the required arguments. One property is projected, along with the score returned by VectorDistance
. Then, we user an ORDER BY
clause to sort VectorDistance
scores in order from most similar to least.
SELECT TOP 10 s.name, VectorDistance(c.vector1, <query_vector>)
FROM c
ORDER BY VectorDistance(c.vector1, <query_vector>)
This next example also includes optional arguments for VectorDistance
SELECT TOP 10 s.name, VectorDistance(c.vector1, <query_vector>, true, {'distanceFunction':'cosine', 'dataType':'float32',})
FROM c
ORDER BY VectorDistance(c.vector1, <query_vector>, true, {'distanceFunction':'cosine', 'dataType':'float32',})
Remarks
- This function requires enrollment in the Azure Cosmos DB NoSQL Vector Search preview feature.
- This function benefits from a vector index
- if
false
is given as the optionalbool_expr
, then the vector index defined on the path is used, if one exists. If no index is defined on the vector path, then this function reverts to full scan and incurs higher RU charges and higher latency than if using a vector index. - When
VectorDistance
is used in anORDER BY
clause, no direction needs to be specified for theORDER BY
as the results are always sorted in order of most similar (first) to least similar (last) based on the similarity metric used. - The result is expressed as a similarity score.