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The HSQLDB sqlsyntax.xml source code
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- $Id: sqlsyntax.xml,v 1.48 2005/11/06 22:13:26 unsaved Exp $ -->
<chapter id="sqlsyntax-chapter">
<title id="sqlsyntax-title">SQL Syntax
<chapterinfo>
<authorgroup>
<corpauthor>The Hypersonic SQL Group
<author>
<firstname>Fred
<surname>Toussi
<affiliation>
<orgname>HSQLDB Development Group
</affiliation>
<email>ft@cluedup.com
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Peter
<surname>Hudson
<affiliation>
<orgname>HSQLDB Development Group
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Joe
<surname>Maher
<affiliation>
<orgname>HSQLDB Development Group
</affiliation>
<email>jrmaher@ameritech.net
</author>
<editor>
<firstname>Blaine
<surname>Simpson
<affiliation>
<orgname>HSQLDB Development Group
</affiliation>
<email>blaine.simpson@admc.com
</editor>
</authorgroup>
<edition>$Revision: 1.48 $
<pubdate>$Date: 2005/11/06 22:13:26 $
<keywordset>
<keyword>Hsqldb
<keyword>Syntax
<keyword>SQL
</keywordset>
</chapterinfo>
<para>HSQLDB version 1.8.0 supports the SQL statements and syntax described
in this chapter.</para>
<section>
<title>Notational Conventions Used in this Chapter
<para>[A] means A is optional.
<para>{ B | C } means either B or C must be
used.</para>
<para>[{ B | C }] means either B or C may optionally be
used, or nothing at all.</para>
<para>( and ) are the actual
characters '(' and ')' used in statements.</para>
<para>UPPERCASE words are keywords
</section>
<section>
<title>SQL Commands
<!-- The first items using footnotes must define them.
That's why this one has "<footnode id=" instead of "
<para>These features were added by HSQL Development Group since
April 2001</para>
</footnote>
<programlisting>ALTER INDEX <indexname> RENAME TO <newname>;
<para>Index names can be changed so long as they do not conflict with
other user-defined or sytem-defined names.</para>
</section>
<!-- Template for new items: (Put new items into alphabetical position)
<section id="@-section">
<title id="@-title">@
<programlisting>
</programlisting>
<para>
</para>
</para>
</section>
-->
<section id="alter_sequence-section">
<title id="alter_sequence-title">ALTER SEQUENCE
<programlisting>ALTER SEQUENCE <sequencename> RESTART WITH <value>;
<para>Resets the next value to be returned from the sequence.
</section>
<section>
<title>ALTER SCHEMA
<programlisting>ALTER SCHEMA <schemaname> RENAME TO <newname>;
<para>Renames the schema as specified. All objects of the schema will
hereafter be accessible only with the new schema name.</para>
<para>Requires Administrative privileges.
</section>
<section id="alter_table-section">
<title id="alter_table-title">ALTER TABLE
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ADD [COLUMN] <columnname>
[(columnSize[,precision])] [{DEFAULT <defaultValue> |
GENERATED BY DEFAULT AS IDENTITY (START WITH <n>[, INCREMENT BY <m>])}] |
[[NOT] NULL] [IDENTITY] [PRIMARY KEY]
[BEFORE <existingcolumn>];</programlisting>
<para>Adds the column to the end of the column list. The optional BEFORE
<existingcolumn> can be used to specify the name of an existing
column so that the new column is inserted in a position just before the
<existingcolumn>.</para>
<para>It accepts a
<para>Drops the column from the table. Will drop any single-column
primary key or unique constraint on the column as well. The command will
not work if there is any multiple key constraint on the column or the
column is referenced in a check constraint or a foreign key.</para>
<para>It will also fail if an SQL view includes the column.
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ALTER COLUMN <columnname> RENAME TO <newname>
<para>Changes a column name.
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ALTER COLUMN <columnname> SET DEFAULT <defaultvalue>};
<para>Adds the specified default value to the column. Use NULL to remove
a default.</para>
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ALTER COLUMN <columnname> SET [NOT] NULL
<para>Sets or removes a NOT NULL constraint for the column.
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ALTER COLUMN <columnDefinition>;
<para>This form of ALTER TABLE ALTER COLUMN accepts a
<listitem>The column must be already be a PK column to accept an
IDENTITY definition.</listitem>
<listitem>If the column is already an IDENTITY column and there is no
IDENTITY definition, the existing IDENTITY attribute is
removed.</listitem>
<listitem>The default expression will be that of the new definition,
meaning an existing default can be dropped by ommission, or a new
default added.</listitem>
<listitem>The NOT NULL attribute will be that of the new definition
(similar to previous item).</listitem>
<listitem>Depending on the type of change, the table may have to be
empty for the command to work. It always works when the type of change
is possible in general and the individual existing values can all be
converted.</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ALTER COLUMN <columnname>
RESTART WITH <new sequence value></programlisting>
<para>This form is used exclusively for IDENTITY columns and changes the
next automatic value for the identity sequence.</para>
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ADD [CONSTRAINT <constraintname>]
CHECK (<search condition>);</programlisting>
<para>Adds a check constraint to the table. In the current version, a
check constraint can reference only the row being inserted or
updated.</para>
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ADD [CONSTRAINT <constraintname>] UNIQUE (<column list>);
<para>Adds a unique constraint to the table. This will not work if there
is already a unique constraint covering exactly the same <column
list>.</para>
<para>This will work only if the values of the column list for the
existing rows are unique or include a null value.</para>
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> ADD [CONSTRAINT <constraintname>]
PRIMARY KEY (<column list>);</programlisting>
<para>Adds a primary key constraint to the table, using the same
constraint syntax as when the primary key is specified in a table
definition.</para>
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename>
ADD [CONSTRAINT <constraintname>] FOREIGN KEY (<column list>)
REFERENCES <exptablename> (<column list>)
[ON {DELETE | UPDATE} {CASCADE | SET DEFAULT | SET NULL}];</programlisting>
<para>Adds a foreign key constraint to the table, using the same
constraint syntax as when the foreign key is specified in a table
definition.</para>
<para>This will fail if for each existing row in the referring table, a
matching row (with equal values for the column list) is not found in the
referenced tables.</para>
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> DROP CONSTRAINT <constraintname>;
<para>Drop a named unique, check or foreign key constraint from the
table.</para>
<programlisting>ALTER TABLE <tablename> RENAME TO <newname>;
</section>
<section id="alter_user-section">
<title id="alter_user-title">ALTER USER
<programlisting>ALTER USER <username> SET PASSWORD <password>;
<para>Changes the password for an existing user. Password must be double
quoted. Use "" for an empty password.</para>
<para>DBA's may change users' base default schema name with the comand
<programlisting>ALTER USER <username> SET INITIAL SCHEMA <schemaname>;
This is the schema which database object names will resolve to for this
user, unless overridden as explained in <link
endterm="schemanaming-title" linkend="schemanaming-section" />. For
reasons of backwards compatibility, the initial schema value will not be
persisted across database shutdowns until HSQLDB version 1.8.1. (I.e.,
INITIAL SCHEMA settings will be lost upon database shutdown with HSQLDB
versions lower than version 1.8.1).</para>
<para>Only an administrator may use these commands.
</section>
<section id="call-section">
<title id="call-title">CALL
<programlisting>CALL Expression;
<para>Any expression can be called like a stored procedure, including,
but not only Java stored procedures or functions. This command returns a
ResultSet with one column and one row (the result) just like a SELECT
statement with one row and one column.</para>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="checkpoint-section">
<title id="checkpoint-title">CHECKPOINT
<programlisting>CHECKPOINT [DEFRAG];
<para>Closes the database files, rewrites the script file, deletes the
log file and opens the database.</para>
<para>If DEFRAG is specified, this command also shrinks the .data file
to its minimal size.</para>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="commit-section">
<title id="commit-title">COMMIT
<programlisting>COMMIT [WORK];
<para>Ends a transaction and makes the changes permanent.
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="connect-section">
<title id="connect-title">CONNECT
<programlisting>CONNECT USER <username> PASSWORD <password>;
<para>Connects to the database as a different user. Password should be
double quoted. Use "" for an empty password.</para>
<para>See also: ,
<link endterm="revoke-title" linkend="revoke-section" />.
</section>
<section id="create_alias-section">
<title id="create_alias-title">CREATE ALIAS
<programlisting>CREATE ALIAS <function> FOR <javaFunction>;
<para>Creates an alias for a static Java function to be used as a
<link linkend="stored-section">Stored Procedure.
The function must be accessible from the JVM in which the database
runs. Example:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting> CREATE ALIAS ABS FOR "java.lang.Math.abs";
</informalexample>
<note>
The CREATE ALIAS command just defines the alias.
It does not validate existence of the target method or its
containing class.
To validate the alias, use it.
</simpara>
<para>See also: ,
<link endterm="stored-title" linkend="stored-section" />.
</section>
<section id="create_index-section">
<title id="create_index-title">CREATE INDEX
<programlisting>CREATE [UNIQUE] INDEX <index> ON <table> (<column> [DESC] [, ...]) [DESC];
<para>Creates an index on one or more columns in a table.
<para>Creating an index on searched columns may improve performance. The
qualifier DESC can be present for command compatibility with other
databases but it has no effect. Unique indexes can be defined but this
is deprecated. Use UNIQUE constraints instead. The name of an index must
be unique within the whole database.</para>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="create_role-section">
<title id="create_role-title">CREATE ROLE
<programlisting>CREATE ROLE <rolename>;
<para>Creates the named role with no members. Requires Administrative
privileges.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>CREATE SCHEMA
<programlisting>CREATE SCHEMA <schemaname> AUTHORIZATION <grantee>
[<createStatement> [<grantStatement>] [...];</programlisting>
<para>Creates the named schema, with ownership of the specified
<emphasis>authorization. The authorization grantee may be a
database user or a role.</para>
<para>Optional (nested) CREATE and GRANT statements can be given only
for new objects in this new schema. Only the last nested statement
should be terminated with a semicolon, because the first semicolon
encountered after "CREATE SCHEMA" will end the CREATE SCHEMA command. In
the example below, a new schema, ACCOUNTS, is created, then two tables
and a view are added to this schma and some rights on these objects are
granted.<informalexample>
<programlisting> CREATE SCHEMA ACCOUNTS AUTHORIZATION DBA
CREATE TABLE AB(A INTEGER, ...)
CREATE TABLE CD(C CHAHR, ...)
CREATE VIEW VI AS SELECT ...
GRANT SELECT TO PUBLIC ON AB
GRANT SELECT TO JOE ON CD;
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
Note that this example consists of one CREATE SCHEMA statement which
is terminated by a semicolon.
</para>
<simpara>Requires Administrative privileges.
</section>
<section id="create_sequence-section">
<title id="create_sequence-title">CREATE SEQUENCE
<programlisting>CREATE SEQUENCE <sequencename> [AS {INTEGER | BIGINT}]
[START WITH <startvalue>] [INCREMENT BY <incrementvalue>];</programlisting>
<para>Creates a sequence. The default type is INTEGER. The default start
value is 0 and the increment 1. Negative values are not allowed. If a
sequence goes beyond Integer.MAXVALUE or Long.MAXVALUE, the next result
is determined by 2's complement arithmetic.</para>
<para>The next value for a sequence can be included in SELECT, INSERT
and UPDATE statements as in the following example:</para>
<para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>SELECT [...,] NEXT VALUE FOR <sequencename> [, ...] FROM <tablename>;
</informalexample>
</para>
<para>In the proposed SQL 200n and in the current version, there is no
way of retreiving the last returned value of a sequence.</para>
</section>
<section id="create_table-section">
<title id="create_table-title">CREATE TABLE
<programlisting>CREATE [MEMORY | CACHED | [GLOBAL] TEMPORARY | TEMP ] TABLE <name>
( <columnDefinition> [, ...] [, <constraintDefinition>...] )
[ON COMMIT {DELETE | PRESERVE} ROWS];</programlisting>
<para>Creates a tables in memory (default) or on disk and only cached in
memory. If the database is all-in-memory, both MEMORY and CACHED forms
of CREATE TABLE return a MEMORY table while the TEXT form is not
allowed.</para>
<variablelist>
<title>Components of a CREATE TABLE command
<varlistentry id="columnDef-entry">
<!-- N.b.!!!! Put NO whitespace immediately after programlisting
tags, because the way DocBook formats the itemlist in PDF, we
have no whitespare to waste to fit the examples in the
horizontal space. -->
<term id="columnDef-title">columnDefinition
<listitem>
<programlisting>columnname Datatype [(columnSize[,precision])]
[{DEFAULT <defaultValue> |
GENERATED BY DEFAULT AS IDENTITY
(START WITH <n>[, INCREMENT BY <m>])}] |
[[NOT] NULL] [IDENTITY] [PRIMARY KEY]</programlisting>
<para>Default values that are allowed are constant values or
certain SQL datetime functions.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<title>Allowed Default Values in Column Definitions
<listitem>
<para>For character column, a single-quoted string or NULL.
The only SQL function that can be used is CURRENT_USER.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>For datetime columns, a single-quoted DATE, TIME or
TIMESTAMP value or NULL. Or a datetime SQL function such as
CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, TODAY, NOW.
Each function is allowed for a certain datetime type.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>For BOOLEAN columns, the literals FALSE, TRUE,
NULL.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>For numeric columns, any valid number or NULL.
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>For binary columns, any valid hex string or NULL.
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Only one identity column is allowed in each table. Identity
columns are autoincrement columns. They must be of INTEGER or
BIGINT type and are automatically primary key columns (as a
result, multi-column primary keys are not possible with an
IDENTITY column present). Using the long SQL syntax the (START
WITH <n>) clause specifies the first value that will be
used. The last inserted value into an identity column for a
connection is available using the function IDENTITY(), for example
(where Id is the identity column):</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>INSERT INTO Test (Id, Name) VALUES (NULL,'Test');
CALL IDENTITY();</programlisting>
</informalexample>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>constraintDefinition
<listitem>
<programlisting>[CONSTRAINT <name>]
UNIQUE ( <column> [,<column>...] ) |
PRIMARY KEY ( <column> [,<column>...] ) |
FOREIGN KEY ( <column> [,<column>...] )
REFERENCES <refTable> ( <column> [,<column>...])
[ON {DELETE | UPDATE}
{CASCADE | SET DEFAULT | SET NULL}]<footnoteref linkend="posthyper" /> |
CHECK(<search condition>)<footnoteref linkend="posthyper" />
<para>Both ON DELETE and ON UPDATE clauses can be used in a single
foreign key definition.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>search condition
<listitem>
<para>A search condition is similar to the set of conditions in a
WHERE clause. In the current version of HSQLDB, the conditions for
a CHECK constraint can only reference the current row, meaning
there should be no SELECT statement. Sample table definitions with
CHECK constraints are in <!-- Would be nice to link to this, but there's no copy
under the doc directory. -->
<literal>TestSelfCheckConstraints.txt. This file is in
the /hsqldb/testrun/hsqldb/ directory of the zip.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>General syntax limitations
<listitem>
<para>HSQLDB databases are initially created in a legacy mode that
does not enforce column size and precision. You can set the
property: <code>sql.enforce_strict_size=true to enable this
feature. When this property has been set, Any supplied column size
and precision for numeric and character types (CHARACTER and
VARCHAR) are enforced. Use the command, <code>SET PROPERTY
"sql.enforce_strict_size" TRUE</code> once before defining the
tables.</para>
<para>NOT NULL constraints can be part of the column definition
only. Other constraints cannot be part of the column definition
and must appear at the end of the column definition list.</para>
<para>TEMPORARY TABLE contents for each session (connection) are
emptied by default at each commit or rollback. The optional
qualifier ON COMMIT PRESERVE ROWS can be used to keep the rows
while the session is open. The default is ON COMMIT DELETE
ROWS.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="create_trigger-section">
<title id="create_trigger-title">CREATE TRIGGER
<programlisting>CREATE TRIGGER <name> {BEFORE | AFTER} {INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE} ON <table>
[FOR EACH ROW] [QUEUE n] [NOWAIT] CALL <TriggerClass>;</programlisting>
<para>TriggerClass is an application-supplied class that implements the
<classname>org.hsqldb.Trigger interface e.g.
"mypackage.TrigClass". It is the fire method of this class that is
invoked when the trigger event occurs. You should provide this class,
which can have any name, and ensure that this TriggerClass is present in
the classpath which you use to start hsqldb.</para>
<para>Since 1.7.2 the implementation has been changed and enhanced. When
the 'fire' method is called, it is passed the following
arguments:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting> fire (String name, String table, Object row1[], Object row2[])
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>where 'row1' and 'row2' represent the 'before' and 'after' states
of the row acted on, with each column being a member of the array. The
mapping of members of the row arrays to database types is specified in
<link endterm="datatypes-title" linkend="datatypes-section" />. For
example, BIGINT is represented by a <filename>java.lang.Long
Object</filename>. Note that the number of elements in the row arrays
could be larger than the number of columns by one or two elements. Never
modify the last elements of the array, which are not part of the actual
row.</para>
<para>If the trigger method wants to access the database, it must
establish its own JDBC connection. This can cause data inconsistency and
other problems so it is not recommended. The
<literal>jdbc:default:connection: URL is not currently
supported.</para>
<para>Implementation note:
<para>If QUEUE 0 is specified, the fire method is execued in the same
thread as the database engine. This allows trigger action to alter the
data that is about to be stored in the database. Data can be checked or
modified in BEFORE INSERT / UPDATE + FOR EACH ROW triggers. All table
constraints are then enforced by the database engine and if there is a
violation, the action is rejected for the SQL command that initiated the
INSERT or UPDATE. There is an exception to this rule, that is with
UPDATE queries, referential integrity and cascading actions resulting
from ON UPDATE CASCASE / SET NULL / SET DEFAULT are all performed prior
to the invocation of the trigger method. If an invalid value that breaks
referential integrity is inserted in the row by the trigger method, this
action is not checked and results in inconsistent data in the
table.</para>
<para>Alternatively, if the trigger is used for external communications
and not for checking or altering the data, a queue size larger than zero
can be specified. This is in the interests of not blocking the
database's main thread as each trigger will run in a thread that will
wait for its firing event to occur. When this happens, the trigger's
thread calls TriggerClass.fire. There is a queue of events waiting to be
run by each trigger thread. This is particularly useful for 'FOR EACH
ROW' triggers, when a large number of trigger events occur in rapid
succession, without the trigger thread getting a chance to run. If the
queue becomes full, subsequent additions to it cause the database engine
to suspend awaiting space in the queue. Take great care to avoid this
situation if the trigger action involves accessing the database, as
deadlock will occur. This can be avoided either by ensuring the QUEUE
parameter makes a large enough queue, or by using the NOWAIT parameter,
which causes a new trigger event to overwrite the most recent event in
the queue. The default queue size is 1024. Note also that the timing of
trigger method calls is not guaranteed, so applications should implement
their own synchronization measures if necessary.</para>
<para>With a non-zero QUEUE parameter, if the trigger methods modifies
the 'row2' values, these changes may or may not affect the database and
will almost certainly result in data inconsistency.</para>
<para>Please refer to the code for
</ulink> and
<classname>org.hsqldb.sample.TriggerSample
</ulink> for more information on how to write a trigger class.
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="create_user-section">
<title id="create_user-title">CREATE USER
<programlisting>CREATE USER <username> PASSWORD <password> [ADMIN];
<para>Creates a new user or new administrator in this database. Password
must be double quoted. Empty password can be made using "". You can
change a password afterwards using a <link endterm="alter_user-title"
linkend="alter_user-section" /> command.</para>
<para>Only an administrator can do this.
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="create_view-section">
<title id="create_view-title">CREATE VIEW
<programlisting>CREATE VIEW <viewname>[(<viewcolumn>,..) AS SELECT ... FROM ... [WHERE Expression]
[ORDER BY orderExpression [, ...]]
[LIMIT <limit> [OFFSET <offset>]];</programlisting>
<para>A view can be thought of as either a virtual table or a stored
query. The data accessible through a view is not stored in the database
as a distinct object. What is stored in the database is a SELECT
statement. The result set of the SELECT statement forms the virtual
table returned by the view. A user can use this virtual table by
referencing the view name in SQL statements the same way a table is
referenced. A view is used to do any or all of these functions:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Restrict a user to specific rows in a table. For example,
allow an employee to see only the rows recording his or her work in
a labor-tracking table.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Restrict a user to specific columns. For example, allow
employees who do not work in payroll to see the name, office, work
phone, and department columns in an employee table, but do not allow
them to see any columns with salary information or personal
information.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Join columns from multiple tables so that they look like a
single table.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Aggregate information instead of supplying details. For
example, present the sum of a column, or the maximum or minimum
value from a column.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Views are created by defining the SELECT statement that retrieves
the data to be presented by the view. The data tables referenced by the
SELECT statement are known as the base tables for the view. In this
example, is a view that selects data from three base tables to present a
virtual table of commonly needed data:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting> CREATE VIEW mealsjv AS
SELECT m.mid mid, m.name name, t.mealtype mt, a.aid aid,
a.gname + ' ' + a.sname author, m.description description,
m.asof asof
FROM meals m, mealtypes t, authors a
WHERE m.mealtype = t.mealtype
AND m.aid = a.aid;</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>You can then reference mealsjv in statements in the same way you
would reference a table:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting> SELECT * FROM mealsjv;
</informalexample>
<para>A view can reference another view. For example, mealsjv presents
information that is useful for long descriptions that contain
identifiers, but a short list might be all a web page display needs. A
view can be built that selects only specific mealsjv columns:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting> CREATE VIEW mealswebv AS SELECT name, author FROM mealsjv;
</informalexample>
<para>The SELECT statement in a VIEW definition should return columns
with distinct names. If the names of two columns in the SELECT statement
are the same, use a column alias to distinguish between them. A list of
new column names can always be defined for a view.</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting> CREATE VIEW aview (new_name, new_author) AS
SELECT name, author
FROM mealsjv</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="delete-section">
<title id="delete-title">DELETE
<programlisting>DELETE FROM table [WHERE Expression];
<para>Removes rows in a table.
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="disconnect-section">
<title id="disconnect-title">DISCONNECT
<programlisting>DISCONNECT;
<para>Closes this connection. It is not required to call this command
when using the JDBC interface: it is called automatically when the
connection is closed. After disconnecting, it is not possible to execute
other queries (including CONNECT) with this connection.</para>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="drop_index-section">
<title id="drop_index-title">DROP INDEX
<programlisting>DROP INDEX index [IF EXISTS];
<para>Removes the specified index from the database. Will not work if
the index backs a UNIQUE of FOREIGN KEY constraint.</para>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section>
<title>DROP ROLE
<programlisting>DROP ROLE <rolename>;
<para>Removes all members from specified role, then removes the role
itself.</para>
</section>
<section id="drop_sequence-section">
<title id="drop_sequence-title">DROP SEQUENCE
<programlisting>DROP SEQUENCE <sequencename> [IF EXISTS] [RESTRICT | CASCADE];
<para>Removes the specified sequence from the database. When IF EXIST is
used, the statement returns without an error if the sequence does not
exist. The RESTRICT option is in effect by default, meaning that DROP
will fail if any view reference the sequence. Specify the
<literal>CASCADE option to silently drop all dependent
database objects.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>DROP SCHEMA
<programlisting>DROP SCHEMA <schemaname> [RESTRICT | CASCADE];
<para>Removes the specified schema from the database. The RESTRICT
option is in effect by default, meaning that DROP will fail if any
objects such as tables or sequences have been defined in the schema.
Specify the <literal>CASCADE option to silently drop all
database objects in the schema.</para>
<simpara>Requires Administrative privileges.
</section>
<section id="drop_table-section">
<title id="drop_table-title">DROP TABLE
<programlisting>DROP TABLE <table> [IF EXISTS] [RESTRICT | CASCADE];
<para>Removes a table, the data and indexes from the database. When IF
EXIST is used, the statement returns without an error even if the table
does not exist.</para>
<para>The RESTRICT option is in effect by default, meaning that DROP
will fail if any tables or views refer to this table. Specify the
<literal>CASCADE option to silently drop all dependent views,
and to drop any foreign key constraint that links this table with other
tables.</para>
<simpara>See also:
<simpara>
</section>
<section id="drop_trigger-section">
<title id="drop_trigger-title">DROP TRIGGER
<programlisting>DROP TRIGGER <trigger>;
<para>Removes a trigger from the database.
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="drop_user-section">
<title id="drop_user-title">DROP USER
<programlisting>DROP USER <username>;
<para>Removes a user from the database.
<para>Only an administrator do this.
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="drop_view-section">
<title id="drop_view-title">DROP VIEW
<programlisting>DROP VIEW <viewname> [IF EXISTS] [RESTRICT | CASCADE];
<para>Removes a view from the database. When IF EXIST is used, the
statement returns without an error if the view does not exist. The
RESTRICT option is in effect by default, meaning that DROP will fail if
any other view refers to this view. Specify the
<literal>CASCADE option to silently drop all dependent
views.</para>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="explain-section">
<title id="explain-title">EXPLAIN PLAN
<programlisting>EXPLAIN PLAN FOR { SELECT ... | DELETE ... | INSERT ... | UPDATE ..};
<para>EXPLAIN PLAN FOR can be used with any query to get a detailed list
of the elements in the execution plan.</para>
<para>This list includes the indexes used for performing the query and
can be used to optimise the query or to add indexes to tables.</para>
</section>
<section id="grant-section">
<title id="grant-title">GRANT
<programlisting>GRANT { SELECT | DELETE | INSERT | UPDATE | ALL } [,...]
ON { table | CLASS "package.class" } TO <grantee>;</programlisting>
<programlisting>GRANT <rolename> [,...] TO <grantee>
<para><grantee> is either a user name, a role name, or
<literal>PUBLIC. PUBLIC means all
users</emphasis>.
<para>The first form of the GRANT command assigns privileges to a
grantee for a table or for a class. To allow a user to call a
<link linkend="stored-section">Store Procedure static
function, the right ALL must be used. Examples: <informalexample>
<programlisting> GRANT SELECT ON Test TO GUEST;
GRANT ALL ON CLASS "java.lang.Math.abs" TO PUBLIC;</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<warning>
Even though the command is GRANT ALL ON CLASS, you must
specify a static <emphasis>method name. You are actually
granting access to a static method, not to a class.
</simpara>
<para>The second form of the GRANT command gives the specified
<grantee> membership in the specified role.</para>
<simpara>Requires Administrative privileges.
<simpara>See also:
</section>
<section id="insert-section">
<title id="insert-title">INSERT
<programlisting>INSERT INTO table [( column [,...] )]
{ VALUES(<link linkend="expression-section">Expression [,...]) | };
<para>Adds one or more new rows of data into a table.
</section>
<section id="revoke-section">
<title id="revoke-title">REVOKE
<programlisting>REVOKE { SELECT | DELETE | INSERT | UPDATE | ALL } [,...]
ON { table | CLASS "package.class" } FROM <grantee>;</programlisting>
<programlisting>REVOKE <rolename> [,...] FROM <grantee>
<para><grantee> is either a user name, a role name, or
<literal>PUBLIC. PUBLIC means all
users</emphasis>.
<para>The first form of the REVOKE command withdraws privileges from a
grantee for a table or for a class.</para>
<para>The second form of the REVOKE command withdraws membership of the
specified <grantee> from the specified role.</para>
<simpara>Both forms require Administrative privileges.
<simpara>See also:
</section>
<section id="rollback-section">
<title id="rollback-title">ROLLBACK
<programlisting>ROLLBACK [TO SAVEPOINT <savepoint name>
<para>ROLLBACK used on its own, or with WORK, undoes changes made since
the last COMMIT or ROLLBACK.</para>
<para>ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT <savepoint name>
undoes the change since the named savepoint. It has no effect if the
savepoint is not found.</para>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="savepoint-section">
<title id="savepoint-title">SAVEPOINT
<programlisting>SAVEPOINT <savepoint name>;
<para>Sets up a SAVEPOINT for use with ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT.
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="script-section">
<title id="script-title">SCRIPT
<programlisting>SCRIPT ['file'];
<para>Creates an SQL script describing the database. If the file is not
specified, a result set containing only the DDL script is returned. If
the file is specified then this file is saved with the path relative to
the machine where the database engine is located.</para>
<para>Only an administrator may do this.
</section>
<section id="select-section">
<title id="select-title">SELECT
<programlisting>SELECT [{LIMIT <offset> <limit> | TOP <limit>}]
[GROUP BY Expression [, ...]]
[HAVING Expression]
[{ UNION [ALL | DISTINCT] | {MINUS [DISTINCT] | EXCEPT [DISTINCT] } |
INTERSECT [DISTINCT] } selectStatement]
[ORDER BY orderExpression [, ...]]
[LIMIT <limit> [OFFSET <offset>]];</programlisting>
<para>Retrieves information from one or more tables in the
database.</para>
<variablelist>
<title>Components of a SELECT command
<varlistentry>
<!-- N.b.!!!! Put NO whitespace immediately after programlisting
tags, because the way DocBook formats the itemlist in PDF, we
have no whitespare to waste to fit the examples in the
horizontal space. -->
<term>tableList
<listitem>
<programlisting>table [{CROSS | INNER | LEFT OUTER | RIGHT OUTER}
JOIN table ON Expression] [, ...]</programlisting>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>table
<listitem>
<programlisting>{ (selectStatement) [AS] label | tableName}
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>selectExpression
<listitem>
<programlisting>{ Expression | COUNT(*) | {
COUNT | MIN | MAX | SUM | AVG | SOME | EVERY |
VAR_POP | VAR_SAMP | STDDEV_POP | STDDEV_SAMP
} ([ALL | DISTINCT]<footnoteref
linkend="posthyper" />] Expression) } [[AS] label]</programlisting>
<para>If DISTINCT is specified, only one instance of several
equivalent values is used in the aggregate function. Except
COUNT(*), all aggregate functions exclude NULL values. The type of
the returned value for SUM is subject to deterministic widenning
to ensure lossless results. The returned value type for COUNT is
INTEGER, for MIN, MAX and AVG it is the same type as the column,
for SOME and EVERY it is BOOLEAN. For VAR_POP, VAR_SAMP,
STDDEV_POP and STDDEV_SAMP statistical functions, the type is
always DOUBLE. These statistical functions do not allow ALL or
DISTINCT qualifiers.</para>
<para>If CROSS JOIN is specified no ON expression is allowed for
the join.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>orderExpression
<listitem>
<programlisting>{ columnNr | columnAlias | selectExpression }
[ASC | DESC]</programlisting>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LIMIT n m
<listitem>
<para>Creates the result set for the SELECT statement first and
then discards the first n rows (OFFSET) and returns the first m
rows of the remaining result set (LIMIT). Special cases: LIMIT 0 m
is equivalent to TOP m or FIRST m in other RDBMS's; LIMIT n 0
discards the first n rows and returns the rest of the result
set.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LIMIT m OFFSET n
<listitem>
<para>This form is used at the end of the SELECT statement. The
OFFSET term is optional.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>TOP m
<listitem>
<para>Equivalent to LIMIT 0 m.
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>UNION and other set operations
<listitem>
<para>Multiple SELECT statements joined with UNION, EXCEPT and
INTERSECT are possible. Each SELECT is then treated as a term, and
the set operation as an operator in an expression. The expression
is evaluated from left to right but INTERSECT takes precedence
over the rest of the operators and is applied first. You can use
parentheses around any number of SELECT statements to change the
evaluation order.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="set_autocommit-section">
<title id="set_autocommit-title">SET AUTOCOMMIT
<programlisting>SET AUTOCOMMIT { TRUE | FALSE };
<para>Switches on or off the connection's auto-commit mode. If switched
on, then all statements will be committed as individual transactions.
Otherwise, the statements are grouped into transactions that are
terminated by either <link linkend="commit-section">COMMIT or
<link linkend="rollback-section">ROLLBACK. By default, new
connections are in auto-commit mode. This command should not be used
directly. Use the JDBC equivalent method,
Connection.setAutoCommit(boolean autocommit).</para>
</section>
<section id="collation-section">
<title id="collation-title">SET DATABASE COLLATION
<programlisting>SET DATABASE COLLATION <double quoted collation name>;
<para>Each database can have its own collation. Sets the collation from
the set of collations in the source for org.hsqldb.Collation.
</para>
<para>Once this command has been issued, the database can be opened in
any JVM and will retain its collation.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>SET CHECKPOINT DEFRAG
<programlisting>SET CHECKPOINT DEFRAG <size>;
<para>The parameter size is the megabytes of
abandoned space in the .data file. When a CHECKPOINT is performed either
as a result of the .log file reaching the limit set by "SET LOGSIZE
size", or by the user issuing a CHECKPOINT command, the amount of space
abandoned during the session is checked and if it is larger than size, a
CHECKPOINT DEFRAG is performed instead of a checkpoint.</para>
</section>
<section id="set_ignorecase-section">
<title id="set_ignorecase-title">SET IGNORECASE
<programlisting>SET IGNORECASE { TRUE | FALSE };
<para>Disables (ignorecase = true) or enables (ignorecase = false) the
case sensitivity of text comparison and indexing for new tables. By
default, character columns in new databases are case sensitive. The
sensitivity must be switched before creating tables. Existing tables and
their data are not affected. When switched on, the data type VARCHAR is
set to <literal>VARCHAR_IGNORECASE in new tables.
Alternatively, you can specify the <literal>VARCHAR_IGNORECASE
type for the definition of individual columns. So it is possible to have
some columns case sensitive and some not, even in the same table.</para>
<para>Only an administrator may do this.
</section>
<section id="set_initialschema-section">
<title id="set_initialschema-title">SET INITIAL SCHEMA
<para>Users may change their base default schema name with the comand
<programlisting>SET INITIAL SCHEMA <schemaname>;
This is the schema which database object names will resolve to for the
current user, unless overridden as explained in <link
endterm="schemanaming-title" linkend="schemanaming-section" />. For
reasons of backwards compatibility, the initial schema value will not be
persisted across database shutdowns until HSQLDB version 1.8.1. (I.e.,
INITIAL SCHEMA settings will be lost upon database shutdown with HSQLDB
versions lower than version 1.8.1).</para>
</section>
<section id="set_logsize-section">
<title id="set_logsize-title">SET LOGSIZE
<programlisting>SET LOGSIZE <size>;
<para>Sets the maximum size in MB of the .log file. Default is 200 MB.
The database will be closed and opened (just like using CHECKPOINT) if
the .log file gets over this limit, and so the .log file will shrink. 0
means no limit.</para>
<para>See also:
</section>
<section>
<title>SET MAXROWS
<programlisting>SET MAXROWS <maxwors>;
<para>
Describe me!
</para>
</section>
<section id="set_password-section">
<title id="set_password-title">SET PASSWORD
<programlisting>SET PASSWORD <password>;
<para>Changes the password of the currently connected user. Password
must be double quotedEmpty password can be set using "".</para>
</section>
<section id="set_property-section">
<title id="set_property-title">SET PROPERTY
<programlisting>SET PROPERTY <double quoted name> <value>;
<para>Sets a database property. Properties that can be set using this
command are either boolean or integral and are listed in the <link
endterm="advanced-title" linkend="advanced-chapter" /> chapter.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>SET READONLY
<programlisting>SET READONLY {TRUE|FALSE};
<para>
Describe me!
</para>
</section>
<section id="set_refint-section">
<title id="set_refint-title">SET REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY
<programlisting>SET REFERENTIAL_INTEGRITY { TRUE | FALSE };
<para>This commands enables / disables the referential integrity
checking (foreign keys). Normally it should be switched on (this is the
default) but when importing data (and the data is imported in the
'wrong' order) the checking can be switched off.</para>
<warning>
<para>Note that when referential integrity is switched back on, no
check is made that the changes to the data are consistent with the
existing referential integrity constraints. You can verify consistency
using SQL queries and take appropriate actions.</para>
</warning>
<para>Only an administrator may do this.
<para>See also:
</section>
<section id="set_schema-section">
<title id="set_schema-title">SET SCHEMA
<programlisting>SET SCHEMA <schemaname>;
<para>Sets the current JDBC session's schema. The sole purpose for the
session schema is to provide a default schema name for schema objects
that do not have the schema name specified explicitly in the SQL
command, or by association with another object of known schema. For
example, if you run <literal>SELECT * FROM atbl;, HSQLDB will
look for the table or view named <literal>atbl in the
session's current schema.</para>
<para>Session schemas last only for the duration of the current session.
When a new JDBC session is obtained, the new session will have the
default schema.</para>
</section>
<section id="set_scriptformat-section">
<title id="set_scriptformat-title">SET SCRIPTFORMAT
<programlisting>SET SCRIPTFORMAT {TEXT | BINARY | COMPRESSED};
<para>Changes the format of the script file. BINARY and COMPRESSED
formats are slightly faster and more compact than the default TEXT.
Recommended only for very large script files.</para>
</section>
<section id="set_table_index-section">
<title id="set_table_index-title">SET TABLE INDEX
<programlisting>SET TABLE tableName INDEX 'index1rootPos index2rootPos ... ';
<para>This command is only used internally to store the position of
index roots in the .data file. It appears only in database script files;
it should not be used directly.</para>
</section>
<section id="set_table_readonly-section">
<title id="set_table_readonly-title">SET TABLE READONLY
<programlisting>SET TABLE <tablename> READONLY {TRUE | FALSE};
<para>Sets the table as read only.
</section>
<section id="set_table_source-section">
<title id="set_table_source-title">SET TABLE SOURCE
<programlisting>SET TABLE <tablename> SOURCE <file and options> [DESC];
<para>For details see the
<para>This command is used exclusively with TEXT tables to specify which
file is used for storage of the data. The optional DESC qualifier
results in the text file indexed from the end and opened as readonly.
The <file and options> argument is a double quoted string that
consists of:</para>
<programlisting> <file and options>::= <doublequote> <filepath>
[<semicolon> <option>...] <doublequote></programlisting>
<para>Example:
<informalexample>
<programlisting> SET TABLE mytable SOURCE "myfile;fs=|;vs=.;lvs=~"
</informalexample>
<variablelist>
<title>Supported Properties
<varlistentry>
<term>quoted = { true | false }
<listitem>
<para>default is true. If false, treats double quotes as normal
characters</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>all_quoted = { true | false }
<listitem>
<para>default is false. If true, adds double quotes around all
fields.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>encoding = <encoding name>
<listitem>
<para>character encoding for text and character fields, for
example, encoding=UTF-8</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ignore_first = { true | false }
<listitem>
<para>default is false. If true ignores the first line of the
file</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>cache_scale= <numeric value>
<listitem>
<para>exponent to calculate rows of the text file in cache.
Default is 8, equivalent to nearly 800 rows</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>cache_size_scale = <numeric value>r
<listitem>
<para>exponent to calculate average size of each row in cache.
Default is 8, equivalent to 256 bytes per row.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>fs = <unquoted character>
<listitem>
<para>field separator
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>vs = <unquoted character>
<listitem>
<para>varchar separator
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>lvs = <unquoted character>
<listitem>
<para>long varchar separator
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<variablelist>
<title>Special indicators for Hsqldb Text Table separators
<varlistentry>
<term>\semi
<listitem>
<para>semicolon
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>\quote
<listitem>
<para>quote
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>\space
<listitem>
<para>space character
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>\apos
<listitem>
<para>apostrophe
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>\n
<listitem>
<para>newline - Used as an end anchor (like $ in regular
expressions)</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>\r
<listitem>
<para>carriage return
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>\t
<listitem>
<para>tab
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>\\
<listitem>
<para>backslash
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>\u####
<listitem>
<para>a Unicode character specified in hexadecimal
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>Only an administrator may do this.
</section>
<section id="set_write_delay-section">
<title id="set_write_delay-title">SET WRITE DELAY
<programlisting>SET WRITE_DELAY {{ TRUE | FALSE } | <seconds> | <milliseconds> MILLIS};
<para>This controls the frequency of file sync for the log file. When
WRITE_DELAY is set to FALSE or 0, the sync takes place immediately at
each COMMIT. WRITE_DELAY TRUE performs the sync once every 20 seconds
(which is the default). A numeric value can be specified instead.</para>
<para>The purpose of this command is to control the amount of data loss
in case of a total system crash. A delay of 1 second means at most the
data written to disk during the last second before the crash is lost.
All data written prior to this has been synced and should be
recoverable.</para>
<para>A write delay of 0 impacts performance in high load situations, as
the engine has to wait for the file system to catch up.</para>
<para>To avoid this, you can set write delay down to 10 milliseconds. In
practice, a write delay of 100 milliseconds provides better than
99.9999% reliability with an average one system crash per day, or
99.99999% with an average one system crash per 6 days.</para>
<para>Each time a SET WRITE_DELAY is issued with any value, a sync is
immediately performed.</para>
<para>Only an administrator may do this.
</section>
<section id="shutdown-section">
<title id="shutdown-title">SHUTDOWN
<programlisting>SHUTDOWN [IMMEDIATELY | COMPACT | SCRIPT
<para>Closes the current database.
<variablelist>
<title>Varieties of the SHUTDOWN command
<varlistentry>
<term>SHUTDOWN
<listitem>
<para>Performs a checkpoint to creates a new .script file that has
the minimum size and contains the data for memory tables only. It
then backs up the .data file containing the CACHED TABLE data in
zipped format to the .backup file and closes the database.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATELY
<listitem>
<para>Just closes the database files (like when the Java process
for the database is terminated); this command is used in tests of
the recovery mechanism. This command should not be used as the
routine method of closing the database.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SHUTDOWN COMPACT
<listitem>
<para>Writes out a new .script file which contains the data for
all the tables, including CACHED and TEXT tables. It then deletes
the existing text table files and the .data file before rewriting
them. After this, it backs up the .data file in the same way as
normal SHUTDOWN. This operation shrinks all files to the minimum
size.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SHUTDOWN SCRIPT
<listitem>
<para>Similar to SHUTDOWN COMPACT but after writing the script and
deleting the existing files, it does not rewrite the .data and
text table files. After SHUTDOWN SCRIPT, only the .script and
.properties file remain. At the next startup, these files are
processed and the .data and .backup files are created. This
command in effect performs part of the job of SHUTDOWN COMPACT,
leaving the other part to be performed automatically at the next
startup.</para>
<para>This command produces a full script of the database which
can be edited for special purposes prior to the next
startup.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<simpara>Only an administrator may use the SHUTDOWN command.
</section>
<section id="update-section">
<title id="update-title">UPDATE
<programlisting>UPDATE table SET column = Expression [, ...] [WHERE Expression];
<para>Modifies data of a table in the database.
<para>See also:
</section>
</section>
<section id="schemanaming-section">
<title id="schemanaming-title">Schema object naming
<simpara>Schema objects are database objects that are
always scoped to a specific schema. Each schema has a namespace. There may
be multiple schema objects of the same name, each in the namespace of a
different schema. A particular schema object may nearly always be uniquely
identified using the notation <literal>schemaname.objectname.
All HSQLDB database objects are schema objects, other than the
following.</simpara>
<simplelist>
<title>HSQLDB Non-Schema Object Types
<member>
<simpara>Users
</member>
<member>
<simpara>Roles
</member>
<member>
<simpara>Store Procedure Java Classes
</member>
<member>
<simpara>HSQL Aliases
</member>
</simplelist>
<simpara>Our current Java-class-based Triggers are not fully schema
objects. However, we are in the process of implementing SQL-conformant
triggers which will encompass our Java-class-based triggers. When this
work is completed, HSQLDB triggers will be schema objects.</simpara>
<simpara>Sequences are schema objects with creation and removal permission
governed by schema authorization (as described hereafter), but GRANT
and REVOKE command do not work yet for sequences.
In a future version of HSQLDB, sequence GRANTs and REVOKEs will work
similarly to the current GRANT and REVOKE commands for table access.
</simpara>
<simpara>Most of the time, you do not need to specify the schema for the
desired schema object, because the implicit schema is usually the only one
that can be used. For example, when creating an index, the target schema
will default to that of the table which is the target of the index. Named
constraints are an extreme example of this. There is never a need to
specify a schema name for a constraint, since constraint names are only
specified in a CREATE or ALTER TABLE command, and the schema must be that
of the target table. If the implicit schema is not determined by a related
object, then the default comes from your JDBC session's current schema
setting. The session schema value will be your login user's
<emphasis>initial schema, or whatever you last set it to with
<link endterm="set_schema-title" linkend="set_schema-section" /> in your
<emphasis>current JDBC session with the SET SCHEMA command.
(Your initial schema is "PUBLIC" unless changed with the <link
linkend="alter_user-section"> ALTER USER SET INITIAL SCHEMA</link> or the
<link endterm="set_initialschema-title"
linkend="set_initialschema-section" /> command).</simpara>
<simpara>In addition to namespace scoping, there are permission aspects to
the schema of a database object. The <emphasis>authorization of
a schema is a role or user that is basically the
<emphasis>owner of the schema. Only a user with the DBA role
(an admin user) or the owner of a schema may create objects, or modify the
DDL of objects, in the namespace of that schema. In this way, a schema
authorization is said to "own" the objects of that schema. A schema
authorization/owner can be a role or a user (even a role with no members).
The two schemas automatically created when a database is initialized are
both owned by the role <emphasis>DBA.
<simpara>An important implication to database objects being
<emphasis>owned by the schema owner is, if a non-DBA database
user is to have permission to create any database object, they must have
ownership of a schema. To allow a user to create (or modify DDL of)
objects in their own personal schema, you would create a new schema with
that user as the authorization. To allow a non-DBA user to share create
and DDL privileges in some schema, you would create this schema with
a role as the authorization, then GRANT this role to all of the desired
users.</simpara>
<simpara>The INFORMATION_SCHEMA is a system defined schema that contains
the system tables for the database. This schema is read-only. When a
database is created, a shema named PUBLIC is automatically created as the
default schma. This schema has the authorization DBA. You can change the
name of this schema. If all non-system schemas are dropped from a
database, an empty PUBLIC schema is created again. So each database always
has at least one non-system schema.</simpara>
</section>
<section id="datatypes-section">
<title id="datatypes-title">Data Types
<table frame="all" pgwide="1" tocentry="1">
<title>Data Types. The types on the same line are equivalent.
<titleabbrev>Data Types
<tgroup align="left" cols="3">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name
<entry>Range
<entry>Java Type
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>INTEGER | INT
<entry>as Java type
<entry>int |
<classname>java.lang.Integer
</row>
<row>
<entry>DOUBLE [PRECISION] | FLOAT
<entry>as Java type
<entry>double |
<classname>java.lang.Double
</row>
<row>
<entry>VARCHAR
<entry>as Integer.MAXVALUE
<entry>
<classname>java.lang.String
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>VARCHAR_IGNORECASE
<entry>as Integer.MAXVALUE
<entry>
<classname>java.lang.String
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>CHAR | CHARACTER
<entry>as Integer.MAXVALUE
<entry>
<classname>java.lang.String
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>LONGVARCHAR
<entry>as Integer.MAXVALUE
<entry>
<classname>java.lang.String
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DATE
<entry>as Java type
<entry>
<classname>java.sql.Date
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>TIME
<entry>as Java type
<entry>
<classname>java.sql.Time
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>TIMESTAMP | DATETIME
<entry>as Java type
<entry>
<classname>java.sql.Timestamp
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DECIMAL
<entry>No limit
<entry>
<classname>java.math.BigDecimal
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>NUMERIC
<entry>No limit
<entry>
<classname>java.math.BigDecimal
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>BOOLEAN | BIT
<entry>as Java type
<entry>boolean |
<classname>java.lang.Boolean
</row>
<row>
<entry>TINYINT
<entry>as Java type
<entry>byte |
<classname>java.lang.Byte
</row>
<row>
<entry>SMALLINT
<entry>as Java type
<entry>short |
<classname>java.lang.Short
</row>
<row>
<entry>BIGINT
<entry>as Java type
<entry>long |
<classname>java.lang.Long
</row>
<row>
<entry>REAL
<entry>as Java type
<entry>double |
<classname>java.lang.Double
</row>
<row>
<entry>BINARY
<entry>as Integer.MAXVALUE
<entry>
<literal>byte[]
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>VARBINARY
<entry>as Integer.MAXVALUE
<entry>
<literal>byte[]
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>LONGVARBINARY
<entry>as Integer.MAXVALUE
<entry>
<literal>byte[]
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>OTHER | OBJECT
<entry>as Integer.MAXVALUE
<entry>
<classname>java.lang.Object
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>The uppercase names are the data types names defined by the SQL
standard or commonly used by RDMS's. The data types in quotes are the Java
class names - if these type names are used then they must be enclosed in
quotes because in Java names are case-sensitive. Range indicates the
maximum size of the object that can be stored. Where Integer.MAXVALUE is
stated, this is a theoretical limit and in practice the maximum size of a
VARCHAR or BINARY object that can be stored is dictated by the amount of
memory available. In practice, objects of up to a megabyte in size have
been successfully used in production databases.</para>
<para>The recommended Java mapping for the JDBC datatype FLOAT is as a
Java type "double". Because of the potential confusion it is recommended
that DOUBLE is used instead of FLOAT.</para>
<para>VARCHAR_IGNORECASE is a special case-insensitive type of VARCHAR.
This type is not portable.</para>
<para>In table definition statements, HSQLDB accepts size, precision and
scale qualifiers only for certain types: CHAR(s), VARCHAR(s), DOUBLE(p),
NUMERIC(p), DECIMAL(p,s) and TIMESTAMP(p).</para>
<para>TIMESTAMP(p) can take only 0 or 6 as precision. Zero indicates no
subsecond part. Without the precision, the default is 6.</para>
<para>By default specified precision and scale for the column is simply
ignored by the engine. Instead, the values for the corresponding Java
types are always used, which in the case of DECIMAL is an unlimited
precision and scale. If a size is specified, it is stored in the database
definition but is not enforeced by default. Once you have created the
database (before adding data), you can add a database property value to
enforce the sizes:</para>
<programlisting> SET PROPERTY "sql.enforce_strict_size" true
<para>This will enforce the specified size and pad CHAR fields with spaces
to fill the size. This complies with SQL standards by throwing an
exception if an attempt is made to insert a string longer than the maximum
size. It also results in all DECIMAL values conforming to the specified
precision and scale.</para>
<para>CHAR and VARCHAR and LONGVARCHAR columns are by default compared and
sorted according to POSIX standards. See the <link
endterm="collation-title" linkend="collation-section" /> section above to
modify this behavior. The property
<literal>sql.compare_in_locale is no longer supported. Instead,
you can define a collation to be used for all character
comparisons.</para>
<para>Columns of the type OTHER or OBJECT contain the serialized form of a
Java Object in binary format. To insert or update such columns, a binary
format string (see below under Expression) should be used. Using
PreparedStatements with JDBC automates this transformation.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>SQL Comments
<simplelist>
<member>
<literal>-- SQL style line comment
</member>
<member>
<literal>// Java style line comment
</member>
<member>
<literal>/* C style line comment */
</member>
</simplelist>
<para>All these types of comments are ignored by the database.
</section>
<section id="stored-section">
<title id="stored-title">Stored Procedures / Functions
<para>Stored procedures are static Java functions that are called
directly from
the SQL language or using an alias. Calling Java functions (directly or
using the alias) requires that the Java class can be reached by the
database (server). The syntax is:</para>
<programlisting> "java.lang.Math.sqrt"(2.0)
<para>This means the package must be provided, and the name must be
written as one word, and inside " because otherwise it is converted to
uppercase (and not found).</para>
<para>An alias can be created using the command CREATE ALIAS:
<programlisting> CREATE ALIAS SQRT FOR "java.lang.Math.sqrt";
<para>When an alias is defined, then the function can be called
additionally using this alias:</para>
<programlisting> SELECT SQRT(A) , B FROM MYTABLE;
<para>Only static java methods can be used as stored procedures. If,
within the same class, there are overloaded methods with the same number
of arguments, then the first one encountered by the program will be used.
If you want to use Java library methods, it is recommended that you create
your own class with static methods that act as wrappers around the Java
library methods. This will allow you to control which method signature is
used to call each Java library method.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Built-in Functions and Stored Procedures
<variablelist>
<title>Numerical built-in Functions / Stored Procedures
<varlistentry>
<term>ABS(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the absolute value of a double value
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ACOS(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the arc cosine of an angle
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ASIN(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the arc sine of an angle
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ATAN(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the arc tangent of an angle
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ATAN2(a,b)
<listitem>
<para>returns the tangent of a/b
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>BITAND(a,b)
<listitem>
<para>return a & b
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>BITOR(a,b)
<listitem>
<para>returns a | b
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CEILING(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the smallest integer that is not less than d
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>COS(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the cosine of an angle
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>COT(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the cotangent of an angle
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>DEGREES(d)
<listitem>
<para>converts radians to degrees
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>EXP(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns e (2.718...) raised to the power of d
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>FLOOR(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the largest integer that is not greater than d
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LOG(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the natural logarithm (base e)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LOG10(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the logarithm (base 10)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>MOD(a,b)
<listitem>
<para>returns a modulo b
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>PI()
<listitem>
<para>returns pi (3.1415...)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>POWER(a,b)
<listitem>
<para>returns a raised to the power of b
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>RADIANS(d)
<listitem>
<para>converts degrees to radians
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>RAND()
<listitem>
<para>returns a random number x bigger or equal to 0.0 and smaller
than 1.0</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ROUND(a,b)
<listitem>
<para>rounds a to b digits after the decimal point
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ROUNDMAGIC(d)
<listitem>
<para>solves rounding problems such as 3.11-3.1-0.01
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SIGN(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns -1 if d is smaller than 0, 0 if d==0 and 1 if d is
bigger than 0</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SIN(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the sine of an angle
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SQRT(d)
<listitem>
<para>returns the square root
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>TAN(A)
<listitem>
<para>returns the trigonometric tangent of an angle
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>TRUNCATE(a,b)
<listitem>
<para>truncates a to b digits after the decimal point
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<variablelist>
<title>String built-in Functions / Stored Procedures
<varlistentry>
<term>ASCII(s)
<listitem>
<para>returns the ASCII code of the leftmost character of s
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>BIT_LENGTH(str)
<listitem>
<para>returns the length of the string in bits
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CHAR(c)
<listitem>
<para>returns a character that has the ASCII code c
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CHAR_LENGTH(str)
<listitem>
<para>returns the length of the string in characters
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CONCAT(str1,str2)
<listitem>
<para>returns str1 + str2
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>DIFFERENCE(s1,s2)
<listitem>
<para>returns the difference between the sound of s1 and s2
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>HEXTORAW(s1)
<listitem>
<para>returns translated string
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>INSERT(s,start,len,s2)
<listitem>
<para>returns a string where len number of characters beginning at
start has been replaced by s2</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LCASE(s)
<listitem>
<para>converts s to lower case
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LEFT(s,count)
<listitem>
<para>returns the leftmost count of characters of s) - requires
double quoting - use SUBSTRING() instead</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LENGTH(s)
<listitem>
<para>returns the number of characters in s
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LOCATE(search,s,[start])
<listitem>
<para>returns the first index (1=left, 0=not found) where search is
found in s, starting at start</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LTRIM(s)
<listitem>
<para>removes all leading blanks in s
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>OCTET_LENGTH(str)
<listitem>
<para>returns the length of the string in bytes (twice the number of
characters)</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>RAWTOHEX(s1)
<listitem>
<para>returns translated string
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>REPEAT(s,count)
<listitem>
<para>returns s repeated count times
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>REPLACE(s,replace,s2)
<listitem>
<para>replaces all occurrences of replace in s with s2
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>RIGHT(s,count)
<listitem>
<para>returns the rightmost count of characters of s
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>RTRIM(s)
<listitem>
<para>removes all trailing spaces
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SOUNDEX(s)
<listitem>
<para>returns a four character code representing the sound of
s</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SPACE(count)
<listitem>
<para>returns a string consisting of count spaces
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SUBSTR(s,start[,len])
<listitem>
<para>alias for substring
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SUBSTRING(s,start[,len])
<listitem>
<para>returns the substring starting at start (1=left) with length
len</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>UCASE(s)
<listitem>
<para>converts s to upper case
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>LOWER(s)
<listitem>
<para>converts s to lower case
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>UPPER(s)
<listitem>
<para>converts s to upper case
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<variablelist>
<title>Date/Time built-in Functions / Stored Procedures
<varlistentry>
<term>CURDATE()
<listitem>
<para>returns the current date
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CURTIME()
<listitem>
<para>returns the current time
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>DATEDIFF(string, datetime1, datetime2)
<listitem>
<para>returns the count of units of time elapsed from datetime1 to
datetime2. The string indicates the unit of time and can have the
following values 'ms'='millisecond',
'ss'='second','mi'='minute','hh'='hour', 'dd'='day', 'mm'='month',
'yy' = 'year'. Both the long and short form of the strings can be
used.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>DAYNAME(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the name of the day
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>DAYOFMONTH(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the day of the month (1-31)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>DAYOFWEEK(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the day of the week (1 means Sunday)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>DAYOFYEAR(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the day of the year (1-366)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>HOUR(time)
<listitem>
<para>return the hour (0-23)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>MINUTE(time)
<listitem>
<para>returns the minute (0-59)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>MONTH(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the month (1-12)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>MONTHNAME(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the name of the month
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>NOW()
<listitem>
<para>returns the current date and time as a timestamp) - use
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP instead</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>QUARTER(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the quarter (1-4)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SECOND(time)
<listitem>
<para>returns the second (0-59)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>WEEK(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the week of this year (1-53)
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>YEAR(date)
<listitem>
<para>returns the year
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CURRENT_DATE
<listitem>
<para>returns the current date
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CURRENT_TIME
<listitem>
<para>returns the current time
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
<listitem>
<para>returns the current timestamp
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<variablelist>
<title>System/Connection built-in Functions / Stored Procedures
<varlistentry>
<term>DATABASE()
<listitem>
<para>returns the name of the database of this connection
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>USER()
<listitem>
<para>returns the user name of this connection
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CURRENT_USER
<listitem>
<para>SQL standard function, returns the user name of this
connection</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>IDENTITY()
<listitem>
<para>returns the last identity values that was inserted by this
connection</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<variablelist>
<title>System built-in Functions / Stored Procedures
<varlistentry>
<term>IFNULL(exp,value)
<listitem>
<para>if exp is null, value is returned else exp) - use COALESCE()
instead</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CASEWHEN(exp,v1,v2)
<listitem>
<para>if exp is true, v1 is returned, else v2) - use CASE WHEN
instead</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CONVERT(term,type)
<listitem>
<para>converts exp to another data type
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CAST(term AS type)
<listitem>
<para>converts exp to another data type
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>COALESCE(expr1,expr2,expr3,...)
<listitem>
<para>if expr1 is not null then it is returned else, expr2 is
evaluated and if not null it is returned and so on</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>NULLIF(v1,v2)
<listitem>
<para>if v1 equals v2 return null, otherwise v1
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CASE v1 WHEN...
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>CASE v1 WHEN v2 THEN v3 [ELSE v4] END
</para>
<para>when v1 equals v2 return v3 [otherwise v4 or null if there is
no ELSE]</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>CASE WHEN...
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>CASE WHEN expr1 THEN v1[WHEN expr2 THEN v2] [ELSE v4]
END</literal>
</para>
<para>when expr1 is true return v1 [optionally repeated for more
cases] [otherwise v4 or null if there is no ELSE]</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>EXTRACT
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>EXTRACT ({YEAR | MONTH | DAY | HOUR | MINUTE | SECOND}
FROM <datetime value>)</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>POSITION (... IN ..)
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>POSITION(<string expression> IN <string
expression>)</literal>
</para>
<para>if the first string is a sub-string of the second one, returns
the position of the sub-string, counting from one; otherwise
0</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SUBSTRING(... FROM ... FOR ...)
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>SUBSTRING(<string expression> FROM <numeric
expression> [FOR <numeric expression>])</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>TRIM( LEDING ... FROM ...)
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>TRIM([{LEADING | TRAILING | BOTH}] FROM <string
expression>)</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>See also: ,
<link endterm="create_alias-title"
linkend="create_alias-section" />.</para>
</section>
<section id="expression-section">
<title id="expression-title">SQL Expression
<programlisting>[NOT] condition [{ OR | AND } condition]
<variablelist>
<title>Components of SQL Expressions
<varlistentry>
<term>condition
<listitem>
<programlisting> { value [|| value]
| value { = | < | <= | > | >= | <> | != } value
| value IS [NOT] NULL
| EXISTS(selectStatement)
| value BETWEEN value AND value
| value [NOT] IN ( {value [, ...] | selectStatement } )
| value [NOT] LIKE value [ESCAPE] value }</programlisting>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>value
<listitem>
<programlisting> [+ | -] { term [{ + | - | * | / | || } term]
| ( condition )
| function ( [parameter] [,...] )
| selectStatement giving one value
| {ANY|ALL} (selectStatement giving single column)</programlisting>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>term
<listitem>
<programlisting> { 'string' | number | floatingpoint
| [table.]column | TRUE | FALSE | NULL }</programlisting>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>sequence
<listitem>
<programlisting> NEXT VALUE FOR <sequence>
<para>HSQLDB does not currently enforce the SQL 200n proposed rules
on where sequence generated values are allowed to be used. In
general, these values can be used in insert and update statements
but not in CASE statements, order by clauses, search conditions,
aggregate functions, or grouped queries.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>string
<listitem>
<para>Strings in HSQLDB are Unicode strings. A string starts and
ends with a single ' (singlequote). In a string started with '
(singlequote) use '' (two singlequotes) to create a '
(singlequote).</para>
<para>String contatenation should be performed with the standard SQL
operator || rather than the non-standard + operator.</para>
<para>The LIKE keyword uses '%' to match any (including 0) number of
characters, and '_' to match exactly one character. To search for
'%' or '_' itself an escape character must also be specified using
the ESCAPE clause. For example, if the backslash is the escaping
character, '\%' and '\_' can be used to find the '%' and '_'
characters themselves. For example, SELECT .... LIKE '\_%' ESCAPE
'\' will find the strings beginning with an underscore.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>name
<listitem>
<para>The character set for quoted identifiers (names) in HSQLDB is
Unicode.</para>
<para>A unquoted identifier (name) starts with a letter and is
followed by any number of ASCII letters or digits. When an SQL
statement is issued, any lowercase characters in unquoted
identifiers are converted to uppercase. Because of this, unquoted
names are in fact ALL UPPERCASE when used in SQL statements. An
important implication of this is the for accessing columns names via
JDBC DatabaseMetaData: the internal form, which is the ALL UPPERCASE
must be used if the column name was not quoted in the CREATE TABLE
statement.</para>
<para>Quoted identifiers can be used as names (for tables, columns,
constraints or indexes). Quoted identifiers start and end with "
(one doublequote). A quoted identifier can contain any Unicode
character, including space. In a quoted identifier use "" (two
doublequotes) to create a " (one doublequote). With quoted
identifiers it is possible to create mixed-case table and column
names. Example:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting> CREATE TABLE "Address" ("Nr" INTEGER,"Name" VARCHAR);
SELECT "Nr", "Name" FROM "Address";</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>The equivalent quoted identifier can be used for an unquoted
identifer by converting the identifier to all uppercase and quoting
it. For example, if a table name is defined as Address2 (unquoted),
it can be referred to by its quoted form, "ADDRESS2", as well as
address2, aDDress2 and ADDRESS2. Quoted identifiers should not be
confused with SQL strings.</para>
<para>Quoting can sometimes be used for identifiers, aliases or
functions when there is an ambiguity. For example:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting> SELECT COUNT(*) "COUNT" FROM MYTABLE;
SELECT "LEFT"(COL1, 2) FROM MYTABLE;</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>Although HSQLDB 1.8.0 does not force unquoted identifiers to
contain only ASCII characters, the use of non-ASCII characters in
these identifiers does not comply with SQL standards. Portability
between different JRE locales could be an issue when accented
characters (or extended unicode characters) are used in unquoted
identifiers. Because native Java methods are used to convert the
identifier to uppercase, the result may vary not be expected in
different locales. It is recommended that accented characters are
used only in quoted identifiers.</para>
<para>When using JDBC DatabaseMetaData methods that take table,
column, or index identifiers as arguments, treat the names as they
are registered in the database. With these methods, unquoted
identifiers should be used in all-uppercase to get the correct
result. Quoted identifiers should be used in the exact case
combination as they were defined - no quote character should be
included around the name. JDBC methods that return a result set
containing such identifiers return unquoted identifiers as
all-uppercase and quoted identifiers in the exact case they are
registered in the database (a change from 1.6.1 and previous
versions).</para>
<para>Please also note that the JDBC getXXX(String columnName)
methods interpret the columnName as case-independent. This is a
general feature of JDBC and not specific to HSQLDB.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>password
<listitem>
<para>Passwords must be double quoted and used consistently.
Passwords are case insensitive only for backward compatibility. This
may change in future versions.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>values
<listitem>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>A DATE literal starts and ends with ' (singlequote), the
format is yyyy-mm-dd (see
<classname>java.sql.Date.
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>A TIME liteal starts and ends with ' (singlequote), the
format is hh:mm:ss (see
<classname>java.sql.Time).
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>A TIMESTAMP or DATETIME literal starts and ends with '
(singlequote), the format is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.SSSSSSSSS (see
<classname>java.sql.Timestamp).
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>When specifying default values for date / time columns in
CREATE TABLE statements, or in SELECT,INSERT, and UPDATE statements,
special SQL functions: NOW, SYSDATE, TODAY, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
CURRENT_TIME and CURRENT_DATE (case independent) can be used. NOW is
used for TIME and TIMESTAMP columns, TODAY is used for DATE columns.
The data and time variants CURRENT_* are SQL standard versions and
should be used in preference to others. Example:</para>
<programlisting> CREATE TABLE T(D DATE DEFAULT CURRENT_DATE);
CREATE TABLE T1(TS TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP);</programlisting>
<para>Binary data starts and ends with ' (singlequote), the format
is hexadecimal. '0004ff' for example is 3 bytes, first 0, second 4
and last 255 (0xff).</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>Any number of commands may be combined. With combined commands, ';'
(semicolon) must be used at the end of each command to ensure data
integrity, despite the fact that the engine may understand the end of
commands and not return an error when a semicolon is not used.</para>
</section>
</chapter>
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