---
title: "Use the SHIFT Function to Offset Items in a Dimension List"
slug: "shift-function"
description: "Learn to use the SHIFT function to move Dimension List Items by a positive or negative offset in Pigment for dynamic modeling."
updated: 2025-05-30T09:36:55Z
published: 2025-08-22T12:00:18Z
canonical: "kb.pigment.com/shift-function"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.pigment.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# SHIFT function

## Description

Returns an expression of type Dimension List where values are items from the original List shifted by a positive or negative integer offset.

## Syntax

```plaintext
SHIFT(Block, Offset)
```

- `Block` is a Metric or List that contains a Dimension List that should be shifted.
- `Offset` is the offset of the shift: use a positive number to shift ahead by N items, or a negative number to shift behind by N items.

## Return type

`Dimension List`

## Example

Formula = `Employee.StartingMonth`

|  | Alice | Bob | Carl | Dave |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Formula | Mar | Jun | Jan | Apr |

Formula = `SHIFT(Employee.StartingMonth, 1)`

|  | Alice | Bob | Carl | Dave |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Formula | Apr | Jul | Feb | May |

Formula = `SHIFT(Employee.StartingMonth, -2)`

|  | Alice | Bob | Carl | Dave |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Formula | Jan | Apr |  | Feb |

## Advanced Examples

The SHIFT function is powerful when the offset is dependent on another Dimension/List property. Offset Metric (Integer Metric defined on team Dimension)

|  | Offset |
| --- | --- |
| Sales | 3 |
| R&D | 1 |
| HR | 1 |

*Example on list:* Here, an 'Employee' List, 'Team' and 'Start Month' Properties are Manual inputs. 'Full Ramp-up month' is a Property computed with the formula: `SHIFT(Employee.'Start Month','Offset'[by: Employee.Team])`

|  | Team | Start Month | Full Ramp-up month |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Alice | Sales | Apr | Jul |
| Bob | R&D | Jan | Feb |
| Carl | HR | Feb | Mar |

*Example on metric:*

FTE by team

|  | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sales | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| R&D | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| HR |  | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

Offset-ed FTE

`'FTE by team'[by constant: SHIFT(Month, -'Offset')]`

|  | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sales |  |  |  | 1.5 | 2 | 2 |
| R&D |  | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| HR |  |  | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

**See also**:

[ITEM function](/v1/docs/item-function)

> [!TIP]
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> 
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