---
title: sample() function
description: sample() selects a subset of the rows from each input table.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/sample/
estimated_tokens: 1287
product: Flux
version: v0
---

# sample() function

-   Flux 0.7.0+
-   View InfluxDB support

`sample()` selects a subset of the rows from each input table.

**Note:** `sample()` drops empty tables.

##### Function type signature

```js
(<-tables: stream[A], n: int, ?column: string, ?pos: int) => stream[A] where A: Record
```

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

## Parameters

### n

(Required) Sample every Nth element.

### pos

Position offset from the start of results where sampling begins. Default is -1 (random offset).

`pos` must be less than `n`. If pos is less than 0, a random offset is used.

### column

Column to operate on.

### tables

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

## Examples

### Sample every other result

```js
import "sampledata"

sampledata.int()
    |> sample(n: 2, pos: 1)
```

[](#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 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:10Z | 10 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 17 | t1 |
| 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 4 | t1 |

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

#### Related

-   [InfluxQL – SAMPLE()](/influxdb/v1/query_language/functions/#sample)

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