RethinkDB 1.6 gets regex and array functions

The open source JSON document database RethinkDB has gained fourteen new array operations and the ability to match regular expressions within stored documents in its latest version, RethinkDB 1.6 code-named "Fargo". RethinkDB is a rapidly developing database which works with Python, Ruby, or JavaScript in Node.js and supports clustering, sharding and replication. The developers compare it to MongoDB.

The new version's match command is built on Google's re2 and allows regular expressions to be used in filters or in secondary indexes for more efficient access. The new array operations cover operations such as adding, changing and removing elements (prepend, append, insertAt, deleteAt, changeAt), blending and splitting arrays (spliceAt, add, mul, difference), and testing array content (count, indexesOf, isEmpty).

There are also insert, union, difference and intersection operators for sets. Other changes include a new sample command, which returns a number of randomly selected records from a table, improvements in error handling, and the addition of basic shared-key authentication. The developers are now working on version 1.7 which will, among other things, improve performance and have better import/export tools.

RethinkDB is available to download as executables for Mac OS X and Ubuntu and as source code. The server is licensed under the GNU AGPL v3.0, while the client drivers are under an Apache 2.0 licence.

(djwm)