Syntax

Identifiers

An identifier is a name matching [a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]* that is not a reserved word. Identifiers are case-sensitive. Keywords must be written in lowercase. Quoted identifiers are not supported.

points          -- valid
myTable         -- valid
select          -- reserved; cannot be used as a bare identifier

Literals

42              -- integer
3.14            -- float
-1              -- negative number
'hello'         -- single-quoted string
"hello"         -- double-quoted string (equivalent)
'it\'s'         -- escaped single quote
"say \"hi\""    -- escaped double quote
'a\nb'          -- newline escape
'a\\b'          -- escaped backslash
'\u263A'        -- unicode escape (☺)
true            -- boolean
false           -- boolean
null            -- null
{"x": 1, "y": 2}  -- object with string keys
{...t, "z": 3}  -- object with spread
[1, 2, 3]       -- array
[1, 2, ]        -- array with trailing comma

String literals use either '...' or "..." (interchangeable, JSON-style). Backslash escapes:

\" — double quote
\' — single quote
\\ — backslash
\n — newline
\t — tab
\r — carriage return
\0 — null byte
\uXXXX — unicode scalar (4 hex digits; surrogates paired JSON-style)

The opposite delimiter needs no escape inside a string.

Comments

Single-line comments begin with -- and run to end of line. Block comments are not supported.

select x from t;   -- this is a comment

Reserved Words

The following words are reserved and may not appear as bare identifiers:

Keyword	Role
`all`	Subquery quantifier
`and`	Logical conjunction
`any`	Type name
`array`	Type name
`as`	Source alias in `from`
`asc`	Ascending sort order
`at`	Attribute name in `pivot` / `unpivot`
`between`	Range predicate
`bool`	Type name
`by`	`order by` / `group by` clause
`clear`	`clear` statement
`copy`	`copy` statement
`create`	`create table` statement
`delete`	`delete` statement
`desc`	Descending sort order
`drop`	`drop table` statement
`exists`	Subquery existence test
`false`	Boolean literal
`float`	Type name
`from`	`from` clause
`group`	`group by` clause
`having`	`having` clause
`in`	Membership predicate
`insert`	`insert` statement
`into`	`insert into` target
`int`	Integer key-column type
`is`	Null and truth tests
`limit`	`limit` clause
`not`	Logical negation
`null`	Null literal
`number`	Type name
`object`	Type name
`or`	Logical disjunction
`order`	`order by` clause
`pivot`	`pivot` clause
`select`	`select` clause
`string`	String key-column type
`table`	`create table` / `drop table` / `clear table`
`to`	`copy … to` target path
`true`	Boolean literal
`unknown`	`is unknown` test
`unpivot`	`unpivot` source
`where`	`where` clause