---
description: The divide compute divides every value of a column by a number or by another column's value.
date_published: 2026-08-13
date_modified: 2026-08-13
canonical_url: https://metricshub.org/community-connectors/develop/computes/divide.html
---

# divide (Compute)

On this Page

- [When To Use](#when-to-use)
- [Syntax](#syntax)
- [Properties](#properties)
- [Table Transformation Example](#table-transformation-example)
- [Recommended Pattern](#recommended-pattern)
- [Common Mistakes](#common-mistakes)
- [Community Examples](#community-examples)

## When To Use

Use `divide` to divide every value of one column by an operand, row by row. The operand is either a literal number or, with the `$n` syntax, the value of another column of the same row. Literal divisors handle unit conversion (100-nanosecond intervals to seconds with `value: 10000000`, milliseconds to seconds with `value: 1000`); `$n` divisors compute ratios such as usage / capacity for a utilization metric. The column values must be numeric, and the divisor must not be `0`.

## Syntax

```yaml
sources:
  processInformation:
    type: wmi
    namespace: root\CIMv2
    query: SELECT Name,ProcessId,KernelModeTime,UserModeTime FROM Win32_Process
    computes:
    # Convert 100-nanosecond intervals to seconds
    - type: divide
      column: 3
      value: 10000000
```

## Properties

| Property | Required | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `type` | Yes | None | `divide`. |
| `column` | Yes | None | 1-based index of the column to update. Each value in this column is replaced by `column value / value`. |
| `value` | Yes | None | Divisor. Either a literal number other than `0` (e.g. `1000`) or a `$n` reference to another column of the same row (e.g. `$7` for the 7th column). |

## Table Transformation Example

With `column: 3` and `value: 10000000`, column 3 of each row is divided by 10,000,000:

#### Input

| Name | ProcessId | KernelModeTime (100 ns) | UserModeTime (100 ns) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| services.exe | 704 | 156250000 | 93750000 |
| explorer.exe | 4212 | 31250000 | 625000000 |

#### Result

| Name | ProcessId | KernelModeTime (s) | UserModeTime (100 ns) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| services.exe | 704 | 15.625 | 93750000 |
| explorer.exe | 4212 | 3.125 | 625000000 |

## Recommended Pattern

- Comment both the source unit and the target unit next to the compute (`# unit = 100-nanosecond intervals`, `# divide by 10000000 to get seconds`).
- For utilization metrics, duplicate the usage column first (`duplicateColumn`), then `divide` the copy by the capacity column with `value: $n` — keeping the raw usage for the usage metric.
- Chain one `divide` per column when the same divisor applies to several columns of the row.

## Common Mistakes

- Dividing by `0`, either literally or through a `$n` reference to a column that can hold `0` or an empty value.
- Reversing the operands: `divide` computes `column / value`, never `value / column`.
- Converting units twice: check whether the mapping already applies a conversion function before also dividing in the compute pipeline.
- Pointing `column` or `$n` at indexes that were shifted by an earlier compute such as `keepColumns` or `awk`.

## Community Examples

- [Windows](https://github.com/metricshub/community-connectors/blob/main/src/main/connector/system/Windows/Windows.yaml)
- [WindowsProcess](https://github.com/metricshub/community-connectors/blob/main/src/main/connector/system/WindowsProcess/WindowsProcess.yaml)
- [Cassandra](https://github.com/metricshub/community-connectors/blob/main/src/main/connector/database/Cassandra/Cassandra.yaml)

From `Windows.yaml`, computing memory utilization ratios against the total held in column 7, included directly from the connector source:

```
# Calculate utilization by dividing usage by total memory
- type: divide
  column: 2
  value: $7
- type: divide
  column: 4
  value: $7
- type: divide
  column: 6
  value: $7
```