v.db.univar(1)

NAME
v.db.univar - Calculates univariate statistics on selected table column for a GRASS vector map.

KEYWORDS
vector, statistics, attribute table

SYNOPSIS
v.db.univar
v.db.univar --help
v.db.univar [-eg] map=name [layer=string] column=name [where=sql_query] [percentile=float[,float,...]] format=name [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

  Flags:

-e
    Extended statistics (quartiles and 90th percentile)

-g
    Print stats in shell script style [deprecated]
    This flag is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Use format=shell instead.

--help
    Print usage summary

--verbose
    Verbose module output

--quiet
    Quiet module output

--ui
    Force launching GUI dialog

  Parameters:

map=name [required]
    Name of vector map
    Or data source for direct OGR access

layer=string
    Layer number or name
    Vector features can have category values in different layers. This number determines which layer to use. When used with direct OGR access this is the layer name.
    Default: 1

column=name [required]
    Name of attribute column on which to calculate statistics (must be numeric)

where=sql_query
    WHERE conditions of SQL statement without ’where’ keyword
    Example: income < 1000 and population >= 10000

percentile=float[,float,...]
    Percentile to calculate (requires extended statistics flag)
    Options: 0-100
    Default: 90

format=name [required]
    Output format
    Options: plain, json, shell
    Default: plain
    plain: Plain text output
    json: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
    shell: Shell script style for Bash eval

DESCRIPTION
v.db.univar calculates basic univariate statistics for numeric attributes in a vector attribute table. It will calculate minimum, maximum, range, mean, standard deviation, variance, coefficient of variation, quartiles, median, and 90th percentile.

v.db.univar uses db.univar which in turn uses db.select to get the attribute values on which it calculates the statistics. This means that statistics are calculated based on the entries in the attribute table, not based on the features in the map. One attribute value is read from each line in the attribute table, whether there are no, one or several features with the category value referenced by that line, or whether any features have more than one category value. For feature-based, instead of attribute table-based, univariate statistics on attributes see v.univar.

NOTES
A database connection must be defined for the selected vector layer.

EXAMPLES

  Univariate statistics on attribute table column
In this example, the 30 years precipitation data table is statistically analysed (North Carolina sample dataset) and univariate statistics performed:

# show columns of attribute table connected to precipitation map
v.info -c precip_30ynormals
# univariate statistics on 30 years annual precipitation in NC
v.db.univar precip_30ynormals column=annual
 Number of values: 136
 Minimum: 947.42
 Maximum: 2329.18
 Range: 1381.76
 Mean: 1289.31147058823
 [...]

  Univariate statistics on randomly sampled data points
In this example, random points are sampled from the elevation map (North Carolina sample dataset) and univariate statistics performed:

g.region raster=elevation -p
v.random output=samples n=100
v.db.addtable samples column="heights double precision"
v.what.rast samples raster=elevation column=heights
v.db.select samples
v.db.univar samples column=heights

  JSON output
This uses the JSON output of the module which is passed using a pipe (in Bash or other unix-like shell) to the jq tool which selects just the relevant statistic.

v.db.univar precip_30ynormals column=annual format=json | jq .statistics.mean

SEE ALSO
db.univar, r.univar, v.univar, db.select, d.vect.thematic, v.random

GRASS SQL interface

AUTHORS
Michael Barton, Arizona State University

and authors of r.univar.sh (Markus Neteler et al.)

SOURCE CODE

Available at: v.db.univar source code (history)

Latest change: Saturday Feb 14 00:16:26 2026 in commit: c9d078496b7ba57d5f9b2120b3304b3c5de38b7d

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