A functional update may be the best way to achieve this if your intention is to update many columns of a table in a similar fashion.
func:{[t;x]
if[not x in cols t;t:![t;();0b;(enlist x)!enlist 0]];
:$[x in cols t;
![t;();0b;(enlist`$string[x],"_VAL")!enlist(*;x;`$string[x],"_PRICE")];
t;
];
};
This function will update t
with *_VAL
columns for any column you pass as an argument, while first also adding a zero column for any missing columns passed as an argument.
q)t:([]AAA:10?100;BBB:10?100;CCC:10?100;AAA_PRICE:10*10?10;BBB_PRICE:10*10?10;CCC_PRICE:10*10?10;DDD_PRICE:10*10?10)
q)func/[t;`AAA`BBB`CCC`DDD]
AAA BBB CCC AAA_PRICE BBB_PRICE CCC_PRICE DDD_PRICE AAA_VAL BBB_VAL CCC_VAL DDD DDD_VAL
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
70 28 89 10 90 0 0 700 2520 0 0 0
39 17 97 50 90 40 10 1950 1530 3880 0 0
76 11 11 0 0 50 10 0 0 550 0 0
26 55 99 20 60 80 90 520 3300 7920 0 0
91 51 3 30 20 0 60 2730 1020 0 0 0
83 81 7 70 60 40 90 5810 4860 280 0 0
76 68 98 40 80 90 70 3040 5440 8820 0 0
88 96 30 70 0 80 80 6160 0 2400 0 0
4 61 2 70 90 0 40 280 5490 0 0 0
56 70 15 0 50 30 30 0 3500 450 0 0
As you've already mentioned, to cover point 2, a dictionary of functions might be the best way to go.
q)dict:raze{(enlist`$string[x],"_VAL")!enlist(*;x;`$string[x],"_PRICE")}each`AAA`BBB`DDD
q)dict
AAA_VAL| * `AAA `AAA_PRICE
BBB_VAL| * `BBB `BBB_PRICE
DDD_VAL| * `DDD `DDD_PRICE
And then a slightly modified function...
func:{[dict;t;x]
if[not x in cols t;t:![t;();0b;(enlist x)!enlist 0]];
:$[x in cols t;
![t;();0b;(enlist`$string[x],"_VAL")!enlist(dict`$string[x],"_VAL")];
t;
];
};
yields a similar result.
q)func[dict]/[t;`AAA`BBB`DDD]
AAA BBB CCC AAA_PRICE BBB_PRICE CCC_PRICE DDD_PRICE AAA_VAL BBB_VAL DDD DDD_VAL
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
70 28 89 10 90 0 0 700 2520 0 0
39 17 97 50 90 40 10 1950 1530 0 0
76 11 11 0 0 50 10 0 0 0 0
26 55 99 20 60 80 90 520 3300 0 0
91 51 3 30 20 0 60 2730 1020 0 0
83 81 7 70 60 40 90 5810 4860 0 0
76 68 98 40 80 90 70 3040 5440 0 0
88 96 30 70 0 80 80 6160 0 0 0
4 61 2 70 90 0 40 280 5490 0 0
56 70 15 0 50 30 30 0 3500 0 0