Join us on
Star us on
Get Started
Slack
GitHub
Get Started
v2.5 (latest) v2.2 (stable) v2.1 (earlier version) v2.0 (earlier version) v1.3 (earlier version)
  • YUGABYTEDB CORE
    • Quick start
      • 1. Install YugabyteDB
      • 2. Create a local cluster
      • 3. Explore distributed SQL
      • 4. Build an application
        • Java
        • NodeJS
        • Go
        • Python
        • Ruby
        • C#
        • PHP
        • C++
        • C
        • Scala
    • Explore features
      • Linear scalability
      • Fault tolerance
      • Global distribution
      • Auto sharding
      • Follower reads
      • Observability
      • Colocated tables
      • Change data capture (CDC)
      • Two data center (2DC)
    • Develop
      • Learn app development
        • 1. SQL vs NoSQL
        • 2. Data modeling
        • 3. Data types
        • 4. ACID transactions
        • 5. Aggregations
        • 6. Batch operations
        • 7. Date and time
        • 8. Strings and text
        • 9. TTL for data expiration
      • Ecosystem integrations
        • Apache Kafka
        • Apache Spark
        • JanusGraph
        • KairosDB
        • Presto
        • Metabase
      • Build GraphQL apps
        • Hasura
        • Prisma
      • Real-world examples
        • E-Commerce app
        • IoT fleet management
        • Retail Analytics
      • Explore sample apps
      • Best practices
    • Migrate
      • Migration Process
      • Migrating From PostgreSQL
        • Schema Migration
        • App Migration
        • Export Data
        • Prepare Cluster
        • Import Data
        • Verify Migration
    • Deploy
      • Deployment checklist
      • Manual deployment
        • 1. System configuration
        • 2. Install software
        • 3. Start YB-Masters
        • 4. Start YB-TServers
        • 5. Verify deployment
      • Kubernetes
        • Single-zone
          • Open Source
          • Amazon EKS
          • Google Kubernetes Engine
          • Azure Kubernetes Service
        • Multi-zone
          • Amazon EKS
          • Google Kubernetes Engine
        • Multi-cluster
          • Google Kubernetes Engine
        • Best practices
        • Connect clients
      • Docker
      • Public clouds
        • Amazon Web Services
        • Google Cloud Platform
        • Microsoft Azure
      • Multi-DC deployments
        • Three+ data center (3DC)
        • Two data center (2DC)
        • Read replica clusters
      • Change data capture (CDC)
        • CDC to Kafka
    • Benchmark
      • TPC-C
      • sysbench
      • YCSB
      • Key-value workload
      • Large datasets
      • Scalability
        • Scaling queries
      • Resilience
        • Jepsen testing
    • Secure
      • Security checklist
      • Authentication
        • Authentication
        • Fine-grained authentication
      • Encryption in transit
        • Create client certificates
        • Create server certificates
        • Enable server-to-server encryption
        • Enable client-to-server encryption
        • Connect to clusters
      • Encryption at rest
      • Authorization
        • RBAC model
        • Create roles
        • Grant privileges
      • Audit logging
    • Manage
      • Back up and restore
        • Back up data
        • Restore data
        • Snapshot and restore data
      • Migrate data
        • Bulk import
        • Bulk export
      • Change cluster configuration
      • Diagnostics reporting
      • Upgrade a deployment
    • Troubleshoot
      • Troubleshooting
      • Cluster level issues
        • YCQL connection issues
        • YEDIS connection Issues
        • Recover tserver/master
      • Node level issues
        • Check servers
        • Inspect logs
        • System statistics
        • Disk failure
    • Contribute
  • YUGABYTE PLATFORM
    • Yugabyte Platform
      • Overview
        • Install
        • Configure
      • Install Yugabyte Platform
        • Prerequisites
        • Prepare the environment
        • Install software
        • Prepare nodes (on-prem)
        • Uninstall software
      • Configure Yugabyte Platform
        • Create admin user
        • Configure the cloud provider
        • Configure the backup target
        • Configure alerts and health checking
        • Create and edit instance tags
      • Create deployments
        • Multi-zone universe
        • Multi-region universe
        • Read replica cluster
      • Manage deployments
        • Start and stop processes
        • Add a node
        • Remove a node
        • Edit a universe
        • Edit configuration flags
        • Upgrade the YugabyteDB software
        • Delete a universe
        • Migrate to Helm 3
      • Back up and restore universes
        • Configure backup storage
        • Back up universe data
        • Restore universe data
        • Schedule data backups
      • Security
        • Security checklist
        • Customize ports
        • Authorization platform
        • Create a KMS configuration
        • Enable encryption at rest
        • Enable encryption in transit (TLS)
        • Network security
      • Troubleshoot
        • Install and upgrade
        • Universe
      • Administer Yugabyte Platform
        • Back up and restore Yugabyte Platform
  • YUGABYTE CLOUD
    • Yugabyte Cloud
      • Free tier
      • Create clusters
      • Monitor clusters
      • Create databases
      • Manage database access
      • Connect to clusters
  • REFERENCE
    • Reference
    • Architecture
      • Design goals
      • Key concepts
        • Universe
        • YB-TServer Service
        • YB-Master Service
      • Layered architecture
      • Query layer
        • Overview
      • DocDB transactions layer
        • Transactions overview
        • Transaction isolation levels
        • Explicit locking
        • Single-row transactions
        • Distributed transactions
        • Transactional IO path
      • DocDB sharding layer
        • Hash & range sharding
        • Tablet splitting
        • Colocated tables
      • DocDB replication layer
        • Replication
        • xCluster replication
        • Read replicas
        • Change data capture (CDC)
      • DocDB storage layer
        • Persistence
        • Performance
    • APIs
      • YSQL
        • Statements
          • ABORT
          • ALTER DATABASE
          • ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES
          • ALTER DOMAIN
          • ALTER GROUP
          • ALTER POLICY
          • ALTER ROLE
          • ALTER SEQUENCE
          • ALTER TABLE
          • ALTER USER
          • BEGIN
          • COMMENT
          • COMMIT
          • COPY
          • CREATE AGGREGATE
          • CREATE CAST
          • CREATE DATABASE
          • CREATE DOMAIN
          • CREATE EXTENSION
          • CREATE FUNCTION
          • CREATE GROUP
          • CREATE INDEX
          • CREATE OPERATOR
          • CREATE OPERATOR CLASS
          • CREATE POLICY
          • CREATE PROCEDURE
          • CREATE ROLE
          • CREATE RULE
          • CREATE SCHEMA
          • CREATE SEQUENCE
          • CREATE TABLE
          • CREATE TABLE AS
          • CREATE TRIGGER
          • CREATE TYPE
          • CREATE USER
          • CREATE VIEW
          • DEALLOCATE
          • DELETE
          • DO
          • DROP AGGREGATE
          • DROP CAST
          • DROP DATABASE
          • DROP DOMAIN
          • DROP EXTENSION
          • DROP FUNCTION
          • DROP GROUP
          • DROP OPERATOR
          • DROP OPERATOR CLASS
          • DROP OWNED
          • DROP POLICY
          • DROP PROCEDURE
          • DROP ROLE
          • DROP RULE
          • DROP SEQUENCE
          • DROP TABLE
          • DROP TRIGGER
          • DROP TYPE
          • DROP USER
          • END
          • EXECUTE
          • EXPLAIN
          • GRANT
          • INSERT
          • LOCK
          • PREPARE
          • REASSIGN OWNED
          • RESET
          • REVOKE
          • ROLLBACK
          • SELECT
          • SET
          • SET CONSTRAINTS
          • SET ROLE
          • SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION
          • SET TRANSACTION
          • SHOW
          • SHOW TRANSACTION
          • TRUNCATE
          • UPDATE
        • Data types
          • Array
            • array[] constructor
            • Literals
              • Text typecasting and literals
              • Array of primitive values
              • Row
              • Array of rows
            • FOREACH loop (PL/pgSQL)
            • array of DOMAINs
            • Functions and operators
              • ANY and ALL
              • Array comparison
              • Array slice operator
              • Array concatenation
              • Array properties
              • array_agg(), unnest(), generate_subscripts()
              • array_fill()
              • array_position(), array_positions()
              • array_remove()
              • array_replace() / set value
              • array_to_string()
              • string_to_array()
          • Binary
          • Boolean
          • Character
          • Date and time
          • JSON
            • JSON literals
            • Primitive and compound data types
            • Code example conventions
            • Indexes and check constraints
            • Functions & operators
              • ::jsonb, ::json, ::text (typecast)
              • ->, ->>, #>, #>> (JSON subvalues)
              • - and #- (remove)
              • || (concatenation)
              • = (equality)
              • @> and <@ (containment)
              • ? and ?| and ?& (key or value existence)
              • array_to_json()
              • jsonb_agg()
              • jsonb_array_elements()
              • jsonb_array_elements_text()
              • jsonb_array_length()
              • jsonb_build_object()
              • jsonb_build_array()
              • jsonb_each()
              • jsonb_each_text()
              • jsonb_extract_path()
              • jsonb_extract_path_text() and json_extract_path_text()
              • jsonb_object()
              • jsonb_object_agg()
              • jsonb_object_keys()
              • jsonb_populate_record()
              • jsonb_populate_recordset()
              • jsonb_pretty()
              • jsonb_set() and jsonb_insert()
              • jsonb_strip_nulls()
              • jsonb_to_record()
              • jsonb_to_recordset()
              • jsonb_typeof()
              • row_to_json()
              • to_jsonb()
          • Money
          • Numeric
          • Serial
          • UUID
        • Functions and operators
          • currval()
          • lastval()
          • nextval()
          • Window functions
            • Informal functionality overview
            • Invocation SQL syntax and semantics
            • Per function signature and purpose
              • row_number(), rank() and dense_rank()
              • percent_rank(), cume_dist() and ntile()
              • first_value(), nth_value(), last_value()
              • lag(), lead()
              • Tables for the code examples
                • table t1
                • table t2
                • table t3
                • table t4
            • Analyzing a normal distribution
              • Bucket allocation scheme
              • do_clean_start.sql
              • cr_show_t4.sql
              • cr_dp_views.sql
              • cr_int_views.sql
              • cr_pr_cd_equality_report.sql
              • cr_bucket_using_width_bucket.sql
              • cr_bucket_dedicated_code.sql
              • do_assert_bucket_ok
              • cr_histogram.sql
              • cr_do_ntile.sql
              • cr_do_percent_rank.sql
              • cr_do_cume_dist.sql
              • do_populate_results.sql
              • do_report_results.sql
              • do_compare_dp_results.sql
              • do_demo.sql
              • Reports
                • Histogram report
                • dp-results
                • compare-dp-results
                • int-results
        • Extensions
        • Keywords
        • Reserved names
      • YCQL
        • ALTER KEYSPACE
        • ALTER ROLE
        • ALTER TABLE
        • CREATE INDEX
        • CREATE KEYSPACE
        • CREATE ROLE
        • CREATE TABLE
        • CREATE TYPE
        • DROP INDEX
        • DROP KEYSPACE
        • DROP ROLE
        • DROP TABLE
        • DROP TYPE
        • GRANT PERMISSION
        • GRANT ROLE
        • REVOKE PERMISSION
        • REVOKE ROLE
        • USE
        • INSERT
        • SELECT
        • EXPLAIN
        • UPDATE
        • DELETE
        • TRANSACTION
        • TRUNCATE
        • Simple expressions
        • Subscripted expressions
        • Function call
        • Operators
        • BLOB
        • BOOLEAN
        • Collection
        • FROZEN
        • INET
        • Integer and counter
        • Non-integer
        • TEXT
        • DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP
        • UUID and TIMEUUID
        • JSONB
        • Date and time
        • BATCH
    • CLIs
      • yb-ctl
      • yb-docker-ctl
      • ysqlsh
      • ycqlsh
      • yb-admin
      • yb-ts-cli
      • ysql_dump
      • ysql_dumpall
    • Configuration
      • yb-tserver
      • yb-master
      • yugabyted
      • Default ports
    • Drivers
      • Client drivers for YSQL API
      • YugabyteDB JDBC Driver
      • Client drivers for YCQL
      • Spring Data YugabyteDB
    • Connectors
      • Kafka Connect YugabyteDB
    • Third party tools
      • DBeaver
      • DbSchema
      • pgAdmin
      • SQL Workbench/J
      • TablePlus
      • Visual Studio Code
    • Sample datasets
      • Chinook
      • Northwind
      • PgExercises
      • SportsDB
  • RELEASES
    • Releases
    • Releases overview
    • Release versioning
    • What's new
      • 2.3 (latest)
      • 2.2 (stable)
    • Earlier releases
      • v2.1.8
      • v2.1.6
      • v2.1.5
      • v2.1.4
      • v2.1.3
      • v2.1.2
      • v2.1.1
      • v2.1.0
      • v2.0.11
      • v2.0.10
      • v2.0.9
      • v2.0.8
      • v2.0.7
      • v2.0.6
      • v2.0.5
      • v2.0.3
      • v2.0.1
      • v2.0.0
      • v1.3.1
      • v1.3.0
      • v1.2.12
      • v1.2.11
      • v1.2.10
      • v1.2.9
      • v1.2.8
      • v1.2.6
      • v1.2.5
      • v1.2.4
  • FAQ
    • Comparisons
      • Amazon Aurora
      • Google Cloud Spanner
      • CockroachDB
      • TiDB
      • Vitess
      • MongoDB
      • FoundationDB
      • Amazon DynamoDB
      • Azure Cosmos DB
      • Apache Cassandra
      • PostgreSQL
      • Redis in-memory store
      • Apache HBase
    • FAQs
      • General FAQ
      • Operations FAQ
      • API compatibility FAQ
      • Yugabyte Platform FAQ
  • MISC
    • YEDIS
      • Quick start
      • Develop
        • Build an application
        • C#
        • C++
        • Go
        • Java
        • NodeJS
        • Python
      • API reference
        • APPEND
        • AUTH
        • CONFIG
        • CREATEDB
        • DELETEDB
        • LISTDB
        • SELECT
        • DEL
        • ECHO
        • EXISTS
        • EXPIRE
        • EXPIREAT
        • FLUSHALL
        • FLUSHDB
        • GET
        • GETRANGE
        • GETSET
        • HDEL
        • HEXISTS
        • HGET
        • HGETALL
        • HINCRBY
        • HKEYS
        • HLEN
        • HMGET
        • HMSET
        • HSET
        • HSTRLEN
        • HVALS
        • INCR
        • INCRBY
        • KEYS
        • MONITOR
        • PEXPIRE
        • PEXPIREAT
        • PTTL
        • ROLE
        • SADD
        • SCARD
        • RENAME
        • SET
        • SETEX
        • PSETEX
        • SETRANGE
        • SISMEMBER
        • SMEMBERS
        • SREM
        • STRLEN
        • ZRANGE
        • TSADD
        • TSCARD
        • TSGET
        • TSLASTN
        • TSRANGEBYTIME
        • TSREM
        • TSREVRANGEBYTIME
        • TTL
        • ZADD
        • ZCARD
        • ZRANGEBYSCORE
        • ZREM
        • ZREVRANGE
        • ZSCORE
        • PUBSUB
        • PUBLISH
        • SUBSCRIBE
        • UNSUBSCRIBE
        • PSUBSCRIBE
        • PUNSUBSCRIBE
    • Legal
      • Third party software
YSQL - Yugabyte SQL for distributed databases (PostgreSQL-compatible)
> APIs >

Yugabyte Structured Query Language (YSQL)

Attention

This page documents an earlier version. Go to the latest (v2.3) version.

Introduction

Yugabyte Structured Query Language (YSQL) is an ANSI SQL, fully-relational API that is best fit for scale-out RDBMS applications needing ultra resilience, massive write scalability and geographic data distribution. Currently, YSQL is compatible with PostgreSQL 11.2 version and is in fact built by reusing PostgreSQL's native query layer. It supports all traditional relational modeling features, such as referential integrity (such as foreign keys), JOINs, distributed transactions, partial indexes, triggers and stored procedures.

The main components of YSQL include the data definition language (DDL), the data manipulation language (DML), and the data control language (DCL). A number of elements are used to construct these components, including data types, database objects, names and qualifiers, expressions, and comments. Other components are also provided for different purposes such as system control, transaction control, and performance tuning.

Quick Start

You can explore the basics of the YSQL API using the Quick Start steps.

Data definition language (DDL)

DDL statements define the structures in a database, change their definitions, as well as remove them by using CREATE, ALTER, and DROP commands respectively.

Statement Description
ALTER DATABASE Change database definition
ALTER SEQUENCE Change sequence definition
ALTER TABLE Change table definition
CREATE AGGREGATE Create a new aggregate
CREATE CAST Create a new cast
CREATE DATABASE Create a new database
CREATE EXTENSION Load an extension
CREATE FUNCTION Create a new function
CREATE INDEX Create a new index
CREATE OPERATOR Create a new operator
CREATE OPERATOR CLASS Create a new operator class
CREATE PROCEDURE Create a new procedure
CREATE RULE Create a new rule
CREATE SCHEMA Create a new schema (namespace)
CREATE SEQUENCE Create a new sequence generator
CREATE TABLE Create a new table
CREATE TABLE AS Create a new table
CREATE TRIGGER Create a new trigger
CREATE TYPE Create a new type
CREATE VIEW Create a new view
DROP AGGREGATE Delete an aggregate
DROP CAST Delete a cast
DROP DATABASE Delete a database from the system
DROP EXTENSION Delete an extension
DROP FUNCTION Delete a function
DROP OPERATOR Delete an operator
DROP OPERATOR CLASS Delete an operator class
DROP PROCEDURE Delete a procedure
DROP RULE Delete a rule
DROP SEQUENCE Delete a sequence generator
DROP TABLE Delete a table from a database
DROP TYPE Delete a user-defined type
DROP TRIGGER Delete a trigger
TRUNCATE Clear all rows from a table

Data manipulation language (DML)

DML statements modify the contents of a database.

Statement Description
DELETE Delete rows from a table
INSERT Insert rows into a table
SELECT Select rows from a table
UPDATE Update rows in a table

Data control language (DCL)

DCL statements protect and prevent the database from corruptions.

Statement Description
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES Define default privileges
ALTER GROUP Alter a group
ALTER POLICY Alter a row level security policy
ALTER ROLE Alter a role (user or group)
ALTER USER Alter a user
CREATE GROUP Create a new group (role)
CREATE POLICY Create a new row level security policy
CREATE ROLE Create a new role (user or group)
CREATE USER Create a new user (role)
DROP GROUP Drop a group
DROP POLICY Drop a row level security policy
DROP ROLE Drop a role (user or group)
DROP OWNED Drop owned objects
DROP USER Drop a user
GRANT Grant permissions
REASSIGN OWNED Reassign owned objects
REVOKE Revoke permissions
SET ROLE Set a role
SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION Set session authorization

Transaction control language (TCL)

TCL statements manage transactions of operations on the database.

Statement Description
ABORT Roll back a transaction
BEGIN Start a transaction
COMMIT Commit a transaction
END Commit a transaction
ROLLBACK Roll back a transaction
SET CONSTRAINTS Set constraints on current transaction
SET TRANSACTION Set transaction behaviors
SHOW TRANSACTION Show properties of a transaction

Session and system control

Statement Description
RESET Reset a parameter to factory settings
SET Set a system, session, or transactional parameter
SHOW Show value of a system, session, or transactional parameter

Performance control

Statement Description
DEALLOCATE Deallocate a prepared statement
EXECUTE Execute a prepared statement
EXPLAIN Explain an execution plan for a statement
PREPARE Prepare a statement

Other statements

Statement Description
COPY Copy data between tables and files
DO Execute an anonymous code block

Language elements

This section lists the main elements of YSQL.

  • Keywords.
  • Names and Qualifiers: Some names are reserved for the system. List of reserved names.
  • Data types: Most PostgreSQL-compatible data types are supported. List of data types.
  • Expressions
  • Database Objects
  • Comments
Ask our community
  • Slack
  • Github
  • Forum
  • StackOverflow
Yugabyte
Contact us

Copyright © 2017-2020 Yugabyte, Inc. All rights reserved.