Series helpers across languages

The built-in functions that test or summarise a series: crosses, changes, sums and the value when a condition held. Each row maps one concept from Lipi to the other languages; the word in a cell is the relation, explained in the language map overview.

Concept	Lipi	MQL4	MQL5	NinjaScript	Pine Script	thinkScript
Bars since a condition	`ta.barssince`	Absent	Absent	Caveat	Differs	Absent
Change over bars	`ta.change`	Absent	Absent	Caveat	Caveat	Absent
Cross of two series	`ta.cross`	Absent	Absent	Absent	Exact	Exact
Cross above	`ta.crossover`	Absent	Absent	Caveat	Exact	Caveat
Cross below	`ta.crossunder`	Absent	Absent	Caveat	Exact	Caveat
Falling for a number of bars	`ta.falling`	Absent	Absent	Caveat	Differs	Differs
Rising for a number of bars	`ta.rising`	Absent	Absent	Caveat	Differs	Differs
Sum over bars	`ta.sum`	Absent	Caveat	Exact	Caveat	Caveat
Value when a condition was true	`ta.valuewhen`	Absent	Absent	Absent	Caveat	Absent

Each section below gives the Lipi construct first, then the construct in each language, with a note wherever behaviour differs. The language name links to the documentation the row was checked against.

Bars since a condition

Counts the bars that have gone by since condition was last true. In Lipi: ta.barssince.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No built-in; walk back through the series in a loop until the condition holds.
MQL5		Not in MQL5	No bars-since function in the reference; keep a counter variable updated on each bar.
NinjaScript	`MRO`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Condition is a lambda, with an occurrence number (1 = latest) and a required look-back limit. Returns -1 if none; unsupported in multi-series scripts.
Pine Script	`ta.barssince`	Looks alike, behaves differently	While the condition has never been true Pine returns na; Lipi returns -1. So barssince < 5 is false in Pine, true in Lipi. Warm-up and missing values: Never-true gives na in Pine and -1 in Lipi, so comparisons and nz() guards behave differently.
thinkScript		Not in thinkScript	No bars-since function. Build it with a recursive def variable that references its own earlier value, seeded with CompoundValue.

Change over bars

The difference between the current value of source and its value length bars back. In Lipi: ta.change.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No built-in; subtract timeseries elements yourself, such as Close[0] - Close[n].
MQL5		Not in MQL5	No change function in the reference; subtract the value at the older bar offset yourself. iMomentum is a handle-based price-change indicator.
NinjaScript	`Momentum`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Page gives no formula for Momentum; plain subtraction of Input[0] and Input[n] is the safe equivalent. Warm-up and missing values: Reading a bar before the first one throws an index-out-of-range exception; guard with CurrentBar.
Pine Script	`ta.change`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Pine’s result is na on the na bar and length bars later; Lipi’s ta.change is na only on the na bar.
thinkScript		Not in thinkScript	No change function. Subtract the indexed value, price minus price[n]; positive indexes reach into the past.

Cross of two series

True on a bar where source1 and source2 cross, in either direction. In Lipi: ta.cross.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No built-in; compare the two values at shift 0 and shift 1 yourself.
MQL5		Not in MQL5	No cross function; compare the current and previous values of both series yourself.
NinjaScript		Not in NinjaScript	No single both-direction cross method; combine CrossAbove and CrossBelow with OR.
Pine Script	`ta.cross`	Exact
thinkScript	`Crosses`	Exact

Cross above

Flags the bar on which source1 crosses above source2. In Lipi: ta.crossover.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No built-in; test below-or-equal at shift 1 and above at shift 0 yourself.
MQL5		Not in MQL5	No crossover function; test previous below-or-equal and current above, using two bar values.
NinjaScript	`CrossAbove`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Extra required lookBackPeriod (1 = current bar only). NinjaTrader excludes a cross that starts from equal values; Lipi’s ta.crossover counts it.
Pine Script	`ta.crossover`	Exact
thinkScript	`Crosses`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Pass CrossingDirection.ABOVE: the default is ANY, so a bare Crosses call is ta.cross, not crossover.

Cross below

The mirror of talib.crossover: true on the bar where source1 crosses below source2. In Lipi: ta.crossunder.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No built-in; test above-or-equal at shift 1 and below at shift 0 yourself.
MQL5		Not in MQL5	No crossunder function; test previous above-or-equal and current below, using two bar values.
NinjaScript	`CrossBelow`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Extra required lookBackPeriod (1 = current bar only). NinjaTrader excludes a cross that starts from equal values; Lipi’s ta.crossunder counts it.
Pine Script	`ta.crossunder`	Exact
thinkScript	`Crosses`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Pass CrossingDirection.BELOW: the default is ANY, so a bare Crosses call is ta.cross, not crossunder.

Falling for a number of bars

Asks the same question as talib.rising in the other direction: has source been falling across length bars? The answer is a bool, not a number. In Lipi: ta.falling.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No built-in; compare successive series values in a loop.
MQL5		Not in MQL5	No falling-test function; compare the bar values in a loop or a chain of comparisons.
NinjaScript	`IsFalling`	Equivalent, with a caveat	No length argument: it only tests that the current value is below the previous bar’s value.
Pine Script	`ta.falling`	Looks alike, behaves differently	Pine compares the current value with earlier values in the window; Lipi’s ta.falling needs a fall on every bar. Compare each earlier bar explicitly.
thinkScript	`IsDescending`	Looks alike, behaves differently	Tests the average slope of trendlines from the mid-body value of past bars to the current value, not bar-by-bar declines like ta.falling.

Rising for a number of bars

Tests whether source has been rising across length bars. In Lipi: ta.rising.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No built-in; compare successive series values in a loop.
MQL5		Not in MQL5	No rising-test function; compare the bar values in a loop or a chain of comparisons.
NinjaScript	`IsRising`	Equivalent, with a caveat	No length argument: it only tests that the current value is above the previous bar’s value.
Pine Script	`ta.rising`	Looks alike, behaves differently	Pine compares the current value with earlier values in the window; Lipi’s ta.rising needs a rise on every bar. Compare each earlier bar explicitly.
thinkScript	`IsAscending`	Looks alike, behaves differently	Tests the average slope of trendlines from the mid-body value of past bars to the current value, not bar-by-bar rises like ta.rising.

Sum over bars

Adds up the last length values of source. In Lipi: ta.sum.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No windowed-sum function in the math or array groups; add the values in a loop.
MQL5	`vector::Sum`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Totals a whole vector; a moving window means copying the last n values into a vector first.
NinjaScript	`SUM`	Exact
Pine Script	`math.sum`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Pine v6 has no ta.sum; the moving-window sum is math.sum(source, length). Lipi accepts either name.
thinkScript	`Sum`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Sum’s length defaults to 12, Lipi requires it, so a converter must insert 12 when omitted.

Value when a condition was true

Reads source from the bar on which condition was true, going back as far as occurrence says. In Lipi: ta.valuewhen.

Language	Construct	Relation	Note
MQL4		Not in MQL4	No built-in; loop back through the series and read the value where the condition held.
MQL5		Not in MQL5	No value-when function; store the value in a variable each time the condition is true.
NinjaScript		Not in NinjaScript	No single method; read MRO’s bars-ago result back into the series, for example Close[barsAgo], after a -1 check.
Pine Script	`ta.valuewhen`	Equivalent, with a caveat	Lipi’s ta.valuewhen takes number sources only; Pine also accepts bool and color sources.
thinkScript		Not in thinkScript	No value-when function. Build it with a recursive def variable that keeps its prior value until the condition is true.

Manual

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Reference

Series helpers across languages

Bars since a condition

Change over bars

Cross of two series

Cross above

Cross below

Falling for a number of bars

Rising for a number of bars

Sum over bars

Value when a condition was true

​Bars since a condition

​Change over bars

​Cross of two series

​Cross above

​Cross below

​Falling for a number of bars

​Rising for a number of bars

​Sum over bars

​Value when a condition was true

Bars since a condition

Change over bars

Cross of two series

Cross above

Cross below

Falling for a number of bars

Rising for a number of bars

Sum over bars

Value when a condition was true