app/vmselect/promql: preserve the order of time series passed to limit_offset() function

Previously time series passed to `limit_offset()` were shuffled according to hash for their labels.
This was unexpected behaviour for most users.

See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1920 and https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/951

app/vmselect/promql/aggr.go

@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ var aggrFuncs = map[string]aggrFunc{
 	"geomean":        newAggrFunc(aggrFuncGeomean),
 	"group":          newAggrFunc(aggrFuncGroup),
 	"histogram":      newAggrFunc(aggrFuncHistogram),
-	"limit_offset":   aggrFuncLimitOffset,
 	"limitk":         aggrFuncLimitK,
 	"mad":            newAggrFunc(aggrFuncMAD),
 	"max":            newAggrFunc(aggrFuncMax),
@@ -1005,37 +1004,12 @@ func aggrFuncLimitK(afa *aggrFuncArg) ([]*timeseries, error) {
 	if len(limits) > 0 {
 		limit = int(limits[0])
 	}
-	afe := newLimitOffsetAggrFunc(limit, 0)
-	return aggrFuncExt(afe, args[1], &afa.ae.Modifier, afa.ae.Limit, true)
-}
-
-func aggrFuncLimitOffset(afa *aggrFuncArg) ([]*timeseries, error) {
-	args := afa.args
-	if err := expectTransformArgsNum(args, 3); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	limit, err := getIntNumber(args[0], 0)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot obtain limit arg: %w", err)
-	}
-	offset, err := getIntNumber(args[1], 1)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot obtain offset arg: %w", err)
-	}
-	afe := newLimitOffsetAggrFunc(limit, offset)
-	return aggrFuncExt(afe, args[2], &afa.ae.Modifier, afa.ae.Limit, true)
-}
-
-func newLimitOffsetAggrFunc(limit, offset int) func(tss []*timeseries, modifier *metricsql.ModifierExpr) []*timeseries {
-	if offset < 0 {
-		offset = 0
-	}
 	if limit < 0 {
 		limit = 0
 	}
-	return func(tss []*timeseries, modifier *metricsql.ModifierExpr) []*timeseries {
+	afe := func(tss []*timeseries, modifier *metricsql.ModifierExpr) []*timeseries {
 		// Sort series by metricName hash in order to get consistent set of output series
-		// across multiple calls to limitk() and limit_offset() functions.
+		// across multiple calls to limitk() function.
 		// Sort series by hash in order to guarantee uniform selection across series.
 		type hashSeries struct {
 			h  uint64
@@ -1056,15 +1030,12 @@ func newLimitOffsetAggrFunc(limit, offset int) func(tss []*timeseries, modifier
 		for i, hs := range hss {
 			tss[i] = hs.ts
 		}
-		if offset > len(tss) {
-			return nil
-		}
-		tss = tss[offset:]
 		if limit < len(tss) {
 			tss = tss[:limit]
 		}
 		return tss
 	}
+	return aggrFuncExt(afe, args[1], &afa.ae.Modifier, afa.ae.Limit, true)
 }
 
 func getHash(d *xxhash.Digest, mn *storage.MetricName) uint64 {

app/vmselect/promql/exec_test.go

@@ -2065,6 +2065,24 @@ func TestExecSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 		resultExpected := []netstorage.Result{r1, r2, r3}
 		f(q, resultExpected)
 	})
+	t.Run(`limit_offset`, func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+		q := `limit_offset(1, 1, sort_by_label((
+			label_set(time()*1, "foo", "y"),
+			label_set(time()*2, "foo", "a"),
+			label_set(time()*3, "foo", "x"),
+		), "foo"))`
+		r := netstorage.Result{
+			Values:     []float64{3000, 3600, 4200, 4800, 5400, 6000},
+			Timestamps: timestampsExpected,
+		}
+		r.MetricName.Tags = []storage.Tag{{
+			Key:   []byte("foo"),
+			Value: []byte("x"),
+		}}
+		resultExpected := []netstorage.Result{r}
+		f(q, resultExpected)
+	})
 	t.Run(`sum(label_graphite_group)`, func(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Parallel()
 		q := `sort(sum by (__name__) (
@@ -5171,21 +5189,6 @@ func TestExecSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 		resultExpected := []netstorage.Result{r1}
 		f(q, resultExpected)
 	})
-	t.Run(`limit_offset()`, func(t *testing.T) {
-		t.Parallel()
-		q := `limit_offset(1, 0, (label_set(10, "foo", "bar"), label_set(time()/150, "xbaz", "sss")))`
-		r1 := netstorage.Result{
-			MetricName: metricNameExpected,
-			Values:     []float64{10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10},
-			Timestamps: timestampsExpected,
-		}
-		r1.MetricName.Tags = []storage.Tag{{
-			Key:   []byte("foo"),
-			Value: []byte("bar"),
-		}}
-		resultExpected := []netstorage.Result{r1}
-		f(q, resultExpected)
-	})
 	t.Run(`limitk(10)`, func(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Parallel()
 		q := `sort(limitk(10, label_set(10, "foo", "bar") or label_set(time()/150, "baz", "sss")))`

app/vmselect/promql/transform.go

@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ var transformFuncs = map[string]transformFunc{
 	"label_transform":      transformLabelTransform,
 	"label_uppercase":      transformLabelUppercase,
 	"label_value":          transformLabelValue,
+	"limit_offset":         transformLimitOffset,
 	"ln":                   newTransformFuncOneArg(transformLn),
 	"log2":                 newTransformFuncOneArg(transformLog2),
 	"log10":                newTransformFuncOneArg(transformLog10),
@@ -1771,6 +1772,29 @@ func transformLabelGraphiteGroup(tfa *transformFuncArg) ([]*timeseries, error) {
 
 var dotSeparator = []byte(".")
 
+func transformLimitOffset(tfa *transformFuncArg) ([]*timeseries, error) {
+	args := tfa.args
+	if err := expectTransformArgsNum(args, 3); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	limit, err := getIntNumber(args[0], 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot obtain limit arg: %w", err)
+	}
+	offset, err := getIntNumber(args[1], 1)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot obtain offset arg: %w", err)
+	}
+	rvs := args[2]
+	if len(rvs) >= offset {
+		rvs = rvs[offset:]
+	}
+	if len(rvs) > limit {
+		rvs = rvs[:limit]
+	}
+	return rvs, nil
+}
+
 func transformLn(v float64) float64 {
 	return math.Log(v)
 }

docs/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ sort: 15
 * FEATURE: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): allow specifying `http` and `https` urls in the following command-line flags: `-promscrape.config`, `-remoteWrite.relabelConfig` and `-remoteWrite.urlRelabelConfig`.
 * FEATURE: vminsert: allow specifying `http` and `https` urls in `-relabelConfig` command-line flag.
 * FEATURE: vminsert: add `-maxLabelValueLen` command-line flag for the ability to configure the maximum length of label value. See [this feature request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1908).
+* FEATURE: preserve the order of time series passed to [limit_offset](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html#limit_offset) function. This allows implementing series paging via `limit_offset(limit, offset, sort_by_label(...))`. See [this](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1920) and [this](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/951) issues.
 
 * BUGFIX: fix `unaligned 64-bit atomic operation` panic on 32-bit architectures, which has been introduced in v1.70.0.
 * BUGFIX: [vmalert](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmalert.html): restore the ability to use `{{ $labels.alertname }}` in labels templating. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1921).

docs/MetricsQL.md

@@ -487,6 +487,10 @@ See also [implicit query conversions](#implicit-query-conversions).
 
 `keep_next_value(q)` fills gaps with the value of the next non-empty point in every time series returned by `q`. See also [keep_last_value](#keep_last_value) and [interpolate](#interpolate).
 
+#### limit_offset
+
+`limit_offset(limit, offset, q)` skips `offset` time series from series returned by `q` and then returns up to `limit` of the remaining time series per each group. This allows implementing simple paging for `q` time series. See also [limitk](#limitk).
+
 #### ln
 
 `ln(q)` calculates `ln(v)` for every point `v` of every time series returned by `q`. Metric names are stripped from the resulting series. This function is supported by PromQL. See also [exp](#exp) and [log2](#log2).
@@ -823,11 +827,6 @@ See also [implicit query conversions](#implicit-query-conversions).
 
 `histogram(q)` calculates [VictoriaMetrics histogram](https://valyala.medium.com/improving-histogram-usability-for-prometheus-and-grafana-bc7e5df0e350) per each group of points with the same timestamp. Useful for visualizing big number of time series via a heatmap. See [this article](https://medium.com/@valyala/improving-histogram-usability-for-prometheus-and-grafana-bc7e5df0e350) for more details.
 
-#### limit_offset
-
-`limit_offset(limit, offset, q)` skips `offset` time series from series returned by `q` and then returns up to `limit` of the remaining time series. This allows implementing simple paging for `q` time series. See also [limitk](#limitk).
-
-
 #### limitk
 
 `limitk(k, q) by (group_labels)` returns up to `k` time series per each `group_labels` out of time series returned by `q`. The returned set of time series remain the same across calls. See also [limit_offset](#limit_offset).

go.mod

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ require (
 	// like https://github.com/valyala/fasthttp/commit/996610f021ff45fdc98c2ce7884d5fa4e7f9199b
 	github.com/VictoriaMetrics/fasthttp v1.1.0
 	github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics v1.18.1
-	github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql v0.31.0
+	github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql v0.32.0
 	github.com/VividCortex/ewma v1.2.0 // indirect
 	github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.42.19
 	github.com/census-instrumentation/opencensus-proto v0.3.0 // indirect

go.sum

@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@ github.com/VictoriaMetrics/fasthttp v1.1.0/go.mod h1:/7DMcogqd+aaD3G3Hg5kFgoFwlR
 github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics v1.12.2/go.mod h1:Z1tSfPfngDn12bTfZSCqArT3OPY3u88J12hSoOhuiRE=
 github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics v1.18.1 h1:OZ0+kTTto8oPfHnVAnTOoyl0XlRhRkoQrD2n2cOuRw0=
 github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics v1.18.1/go.mod h1:ArjwVz7WpgpegX/JpB0zpNF2h2232kErkEnzH1sxMmA=
-github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql v0.31.0 h1:7cpjby64WVcRNBiMieEytuvAcU/jOOz+39RLigENz4E=
-github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql v0.31.0/go.mod h1:ylO7YITho/Iw6P71oEaGyHbO94bGoGtzWfLGqFhMIg8=
+github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql v0.32.0 h1:yTZFB1FvbOsD5ahl6mxKYprHpZ248nVk3s8Kl7UBg5c=
+github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql v0.32.0/go.mod h1:ylO7YITho/Iw6P71oEaGyHbO94bGoGtzWfLGqFhMIg8=
 github.com/VividCortex/ewma v1.1.1/go.mod h1:2Tkkvm3sRDVXaiyucHiACn4cqf7DpdyLvmxzcbUokwA=
 github.com/VividCortex/ewma v1.2.0 h1:f58SaIzcDXrSy3kWaHNvuJgJ3Nmz59Zji6XoJR/q1ow=
 github.com/VividCortex/ewma v1.2.0/go.mod h1:nz4BbCtbLyFDeC9SUHbtcT5644juEuWfUAUnGx7j5l4=

vendor/github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql/aggr.go

@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ var aggrFuncs = map[string]bool{
 	"geomean":        true,
 	"group":          true,
 	"histogram":      true,
-	"limit_offset":   true,
 	"limitk":         true,
 	"mad":            true,
 	"max":            true,

vendor/github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql/transform.go

@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ var transformFuncs = map[string]bool{
 	"label_transform":      true,
 	"label_uppercase":      true,
 	"label_value":          true,
+	"limit_offset":         true,
 	"ln":                   true,
 	"log2":                 true,
 	"log10":                true,

vendor/modules.txt

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ github.com/VictoriaMetrics/fasthttp/stackless
 # github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics v1.18.1
 ## explicit
 github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics
-# github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql v0.31.0
+# github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql v0.32.0
 ## explicit
 github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql
 github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metricsql/binaryop