---
title: movingAverage() function
description: movingAverage() calculates the mean of non-null values using the current value and n - 1 previous values in the _values column.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/movingaverage/
estimated_tokens: 2258
product: Flux
version: v0
---

# movingAverage() function

-   Flux 0.35.0+
-   View InfluxDB support

`movingAverage()` calculates the mean of non-null values using the current value and `n - 1` previous values in the `_values` column.

### Moving average rules

-   The average over a period populated by `n` values is equal to their algebraic mean.
-   The average over a period populated by only `null` values is `null`.
-   Moving averages skip `null` values.
-   If `n` is less than the number of records in a table, `movingAverage()` returns the average of the available values.

##### Function type signature

```js
(<-tables: stream[{A with _value: B}], n: int) => stream[{A with _value: float}] where B: Numeric
```

For more information, see [Function type signatures](/flux/v0/function-type-signatures/).

## Parameters

### n

(Required) Number of values to average.

### tables

Input data. Default is piped-forward data (`<-`).

## Examples

-   [Calculate a three point moving average](#calculate-a-three-point-moving-average)
-   [Calculate a three point moving average with null values](#calculate-a-three-point-moving-average-with-null-values)

### Calculate a three point moving average

```js
import "sampledata"

sampledata.int()
    |> movingAverage(n: 3)
```

[](#view-example-input-and-output)

View example input and output

#### Input data

| _time | _value | *tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z | -2 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:10Z | 10 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | 7 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 17 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z | 15 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 4 | t1 |

| _time | _value | *tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z | 19 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:10Z | 4 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | -3 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 19 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z | 13 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 1 | t2 |

#### Output data

| _time | _value | *tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | 5 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 11.333333333333334 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z | 13 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 12 | t1 |

| _time | _value | *tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | 6.666666666666667 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 6.666666666666667 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z | 9.666666666666666 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 11 | t2 |

### Calculate a three point moving average with null values

```js
import "sampledata"

sampledata.int(includeNull: true)
    |> movingAverage(n: 3)
```

[](#view-example-input-and-output)

View example input and output

#### Input data

| _time | _value | *tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z | -2 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:10Z |  | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | 7 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z |  | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z |  | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 4 | t1 |

| _time | _value | *tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z |  | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:10Z | 4 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | -3 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 19 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z |  | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 1 | t2 |

#### Output data

| _time | _value | *tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | 2.5 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 7 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z | 7 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 4 | t1 |

| _time | _value | *tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | 0.5 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 6.666666666666667 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z | 8 | t2 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 10 | t2 |

#### Related

-   [Calculate the moving average](/influxdb/v2/query-data/flux/moving-average/)
-   [timedMovingAverage() function](/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/timedmovingaverage/)
-   [exponentialMovingAverage() function](/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/exponentialmovingaverage/)
-   [doubleEMA() function](/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/doubleema/)
-   [tripleEMA() function](/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/tripleema/)
-   [InfluxQL MOVING\_AVERAGE()](/influxdb/v1/query_language/functions/#moving-average)

[transformations](/flux/v0/tags/transformations/)