The QlikView Help is always good place to find such answers.
previous(expression )
Returns the value of expression using data from the previous input record. In the first record of an internal table the function will return NULL. The previous function may be nested in order to access records further back. Data are fetched directly from the input source, making it possible to refer also to fields which have not been loaded into QlikView, i.e. even if they have not been stored in its associative database.
Examples:
Load *, Sales / previous(Sales) as Increase from ...;
Load A, previous(previous( A )) as B from ...;
peek(fieldname [ , row [ , tablename ] ] )
Returns the contents of the fieldname in the record specified by row in the internal table tablename. Data are fetched from the associative QlikView database.
Fieldname must be given as a string (e.g. a quoted literal).
Row must be an integer. 0 denotes the first record, 1 the second and so on. Negative numbers indicate order from the end of the table. -1 denotes the last record read.
If no row is stated, -1 is assumed.
Tablename is a table label, see Table Labels, without the ending colon. If no tablename is stated, the current table is assumed. If used outside the load statement or referring to another table, the tablename must be included.
Examples:
peek( 'Sales' )
returns the value of Sales in the previous record read ( equivalent to previous(Sales) ).
peek( 'Sales', 2 )
returns the value of Sales from the third record read from the current internal table.
peek( 'Sales', -2 )
returns the value of Sales from the second last record read into the current internal table.
peek( 'Sales', 0, 'Tab1' )
returns the value of Sales from the first record read into the input table labeled Tab1.
Load A, B, numsum( B, peek( 'Bsum' ) ) as Bsum...;
creates an accumulation of B in Bsum.
