$copymerge

Usage: $copymerge(target,source[,keep_duplicates])

Category: assignment

Implemented: Picard 1.0

Description:

Merges metadata from variable source into target, removing duplicates and appending to the end, so retaining the original ordering. Like $copy, this will also copy multi-valued variables without flattening them. Following the operation, target will be a multi-value variable.

If keep_duplicates is set, then the duplicates will not be removed from the result.

Note that the variable names for target and source are passed directly without enclosing them in percent signs ‘%’.

Example:

The following statements will yield the values for target as indicated:

$set(target,)
$set(source,one)
$copymerge(target,source)     ==>  "one"

$set(target,zero)
$set(source,one)
$copymerge(target,source)     ==>  "zero; one"

$set(target,zero)
$setmulti(source,one; two)
$copymerge(target,source)     ==>  "zero; one; two"

$setmulti(target,zero; two)
$setmulti(source,one; two)
$copymerge(target,source)     ==>  "zero; two; one"

$set(target,zero; one; zero)
$set(source,one; two; three)
$copymerge(target,source)     ==>  "zero, one; two; three"

$setmulti(target,zero; two)
$setmulti(source,one; two)
$copymerge(target,source,1)   ==>  "zero; two; one; two"