Documentation Analytics Implementation Guide

Adobe plug-in: rfl (Remove From List)

Last update: January 25, 2024

Topics:
Variables

CREATED FOR:

Admin
Developer

IMPORTANT

This plug-in is provided by Adobe Consulting as a courtesy to help you get more value out of Adobe Analytics. Adobe Customer Care does not provide support with this plug-in, including installation or troubleshooting. If you require help with this plug-in, contact your organization’s Adobe Account Team. They can arrange a meeting with a consultant for assistance.

The rfl plug-in allows you to “safely” remove values from delimited strings, such as events, products, list, and others. This plug-in is useful if you want to remove specific values from a delimited string without worrying about delimiters. Several other plug-ins depend on this code to run correctly. This plug-in is not necessary if you have no need to run a specific function on more than one Analytics variable at a time, or if you’re not using any dependent plug-ins.

The plug-in uses the following logic:

If the value you want to remove exists, the plug-in keeps everything in the variable except the value to remove.
If the value you want to remove doesn’t exist, the plug-in keeps the original string as-is.

Install the plug-in using the Web SDK or Web SDK extension

This plug-in is not yet supported for use within the Web SDK.

Install the plug-in using the Adobe Analytics extension

Adobe offers an extension that allows you to use most commonly-used plug-ins with Adobe Analytics.

Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.
Click the desired tag property.
Go to the Extensions tab, then click on the Catalog button
Install and publish the Common Analytics Plugins extension
If you haven’t already, create a rule labeled “Initialize Plug-ins” with the following configuration:
- Condition: None
- Event: Core – Library Loaded (Page Top)
Add an action to the above rule with the following configuration:
- Extension: Common Analytics Plugins
- Action Type: Initialize RFP (Remove From List)
Save and publish the changes to the rule.

Install the plug-in using custom code editor

If you do not want to use the Common Analytics Plugins plug-in extension, you can use the custom code editor.

Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.
Click on the desired property.
Go to the Extensions tab, then click the Configure button under the Adobe Analytics extension.
Expand the Configure tracking using custom code accordion, which reveals the Open Editor button.
Open the custom code editor and paste the plug-in code provided below into the edit window.
Save and publish the changes to the Analytics extension.

Install the plug-in using AppMeasurement

Copy and paste the following code anywhere in the AppMeasurement file after the Analytics tracking object is instantiated (using s_gi). Preserving comments and version numbers of the code in your implementation helps Adobe with troubleshooting any potential issues.

/******************************************* BEGIN CODE TO DEPLOY *******************************************/
/* Adobe Consulting Plugin: rfl (removeFromList) v2.1  */
function rfl(lv,vr,d1,d2,df){var b=lv,f=vr,e=d1,h=d2,g=df;if("-v"===b)return{plugin:"rfl",version:"2.1"};a:{if("undefined"!==typeof window.s_c_il){var c=0;for(var a;c<window.s_c_il.length;c++)if(a=window.s_c_il[c],a._c&&"s_c"===a._c){c=a;break a}}c=void 0}"undefined"!==typeof c&&(c.contextData.rfl="2.1");if(!b||!f)return"";c=[];a="";e=e||",";h=h||e;g=g||!1;b=b.split(e);e=b.length;for(var d=0;d<e;d++)-1<b[d].indexOf(":")&&(a=b[d].split(":"),a[1]=a[0]+":"+a[1],b[d]=a[0]),-1<b[d].indexOf("=")&&(a=b[d].split("="),a[1]=a[0]+"="+a[1],b[d]=a[0]),b[d]!==f&&a?c.push(a[1]):b[d]!==f?c.push(b[d]):b[d]===f&&g&&(a?c.push(a[1]):c.push(b[d]),g=!1),a="";return c.join(h)};
/******************************************** END CODE TO DEPLOY ********************************************/

Use the plug-in

The rfl function uses the following arguments:

lv (required, string): A variable (or string) that containing a list of delimited values
vr (required, string): The value you want removed from the lv argument. Adobe advises against removing multiple values during a single rfl call.
d1 (optional, string): The delimiter that the lv argument uses. Defaults to a comma (,).
d2 (optional, string): The delimiter that you want the return string to use. Defaults to the same value as the d1 argument.
df (optional, boolean): If true, forces only duplicate instances of the vr argument from the lv argument instead of all instances. Defaults to false when not set.

Calling this function returns a modified string containing the lv argument but without any instances (or duplicate instances) of the value specified in the vr argument.

Example Calls

Example #1

If…

s.events = "event22,event24,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event24");

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event25";

Example #2

If…

s.events = "event22,event24,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event26");

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event24,event25";

In this example, the rfl call made no changes to s.events since s.events didn’t contain “event26”

Example #3

If…

s.events = "event22,event24,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events);

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "";

If either the lv argument or vr argument are blank in an rfl call, then the plug-in returns nothing.

Example #4

If…

s.prop4 = "hello|people|today";

…and the following code runs…

s.eVar5 = rfl(s.prop4,"people","|");

…the final value of s.prop4 will still be…

s.prop4 = "hello|people|today";

…but the final value of s.eVar5 will be:

s.eVar5 = "hello|today";

Keep in mind that the plug-in only returns a value; it does not actually “reset” the variable passed in through the lv argument.

Example #5

If…

s.prop4 = "hello|people|today";

…and the following code runs…

s.prop4 = rfl(s.prop4,"people");

…the final value of s.prop4 will still be…

s.prop4 = "hello|people|today";

Be sure to set the d1 argument in cases where the lv argument value contains a different delimiter than the default value (i.e. comma).

Example #6

If…

s.events = "event22,event23,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"EVenT23");

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event23,event25";

Although this example isn’t practical, it demonstrates the need to pass in case-sensitive values.

Example #7

If…

s.events = "event22,event23:12345,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event23");

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event25";

Example #8

If…

s.events = "event22,event23:12345,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event23:12345");

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event23:12345,event25";

When you need to remove an event that uses serialization and/or numeric/currency syntax, you should specify only the event itself (i.e. without the serialization/numeric/currency values) in the rfl call.

Example #9

If…

s.events = "event22,event23,event23,event23,event24,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event23");

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event24,event25");

Example #10

If…

s.events = "event22,event23,event23,event23,event24,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event23", "", "",true);

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event23,event24,event25");

Example #11

If…

s.events = "event22,event23,event23,event23,event24,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event23", "", "|",true);

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22|event23|event24|event25");

Example #12

If…

s.events = "event22,event23,event24,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event23,event24");

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event23,event24,event25";

Setting multiple values in the vr argument is not supported. The rfl logic in the above example would first split out the values in the lv argument (i.e. s.events) then try to match each delimited value to the complete vr argument value (i.e. "event23,event24").

Example #13

If…

s.events = "event22,event23,event24,event25";

…and the following code runs…

s.events = rfl(s.events,"event23");
s.events = rfl(s.events,"event24");

…the final value of s.events will be:

s.events = "event22,event25");

Each value to be removed from the list should be contained within its own rfl call.

Example #14

If…

s.linkTrackVars = "events,eVar1,eVar2,eVar3";

…and the following code runs…

s.linkTrackVars = rfl(s.linkTrackVars,"eVar2", ",", ",", false);

…the final value of s.linkTrackVars will be:

s.linkTrackVars = "events,eVar1,eVar3";

The last three arguments (i.e. “,”,“,”,false) at the end of this rfl call are not necessary but are also not “hurting anything” by being there since they match the default settings.

Example #15

If…

s.events = "event22,event23,event24";

…and the following code runs…

rfl(s.events,"event23");

…the final value of s.events will still be:

s.events = "event22,event23,event24";

Again, keep in mind the plug-in only returns a value; it does not actually “reset” the variable passed in through the lv argument.

Version History

2.1 (March 19, 2021)

Added version number as context data.

2.01 (September 17, 2019)

Minor bug fix for the default delimiter value

2.0 (April 16, 2018)

Point release (recompiled, smaller code size).
Removed the need for the join plug-in.

1.0 (July 18, 2016)

Initial release.

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