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SQL++ Query Strings

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      Description — How to use SQL++ query strings to build effective queries with Couchbase Lite on Android
      Related Content — Predictive Queries | Live Queries | Indexing

      N1QL is Couchbase’s implementation of the developing SQL++ standard. As such the terms N1QL and SQL++ are used interchangeably in Couchbase documentation unless explicitly stated otherwise.

      The examples used in this topic are based on the Travel Sample app and data introduced in the Couchbase Mobile Workshop tutorial

      Introduction

      Developers using Couchbase Lite for Android can provide SQL++ query strings using the SQL++ Query API. This API uses query statements of the form shown in Example 2.

      The structure and semantics of the query format are based on that of Couchbase Server’s SQL++ query language — see SQL++ Reference Guide and SQL++ Data Model.

      Running

      Use the N1QLQuery class to define the SQL++ query string on the database to be queried. Then run the query using the`.execute()` method — see Query Resultsets for how to work with result sets.

      Example 1. Running a SQL++ Query
      • Kotlin

      • Java

      val thisQuery = db.createQuery(
            "SELECT META().id AS id FROM _ WHERE type = \"hotel\"") (1)
      
      return thisQuery.execute().allResults()
      //  Declared elsewhere: Database argDB
      
      Database thisDb = argDB;
      
      Query thisQuery =
      thisDb.createQuery(
        "SELECT META().id AS thisId FROM _ WHERE type = \"hotel\""); // <.
      
        return thisQuery.execute().allResults();
      1 Here we are accessing th current database using the shorthand notation _ — see the FROM clause for more on data source selection and Query Parameters for more on parameterized queries.

      Query Format

      The API uses query statements of the form shown in Example 2.

      Example 2. Query Format
      SELECT ____ (1)
      FROM 'database' (2)
      WHERE ____, (3)
      JOIN ____ (4)
      GROUP BY ____ (5)
      ORDER BY ____ (6)
      LIMIT ____ (7)
      OFFSET ____ (8)
      Query Components
      1 The SELECT statement specifies the properties to be returned in the result set
      2 FROM specifies the data source to be queried
      3 WHERE statement specifies the query criteria.
      The `SELECT`ed properties of documents matching this criteria will be returned in the result set
      4 JOIN statement specifies the criteria for joining multiple documents
      5 GROUP BY statement specifies the criteria used to group returned items in the result set
      6 ORDER BY statement specifies the criteria used to order the items in the result set
      7 LIMIT statement specifies the maximum number of results to be returned
      8 OFFSET statement specifies the number of results to be skipped before starting to return results
      We recommend working through the SQL++ Tutorials as a good way to build your SQL++ skills.

      SELECT statement

      Purpose

      Projects the result returned by the query, identifying the columns it will contain.

      Syntax

      Example 3. N1QL Select Syntax
      select = SELECT _ ( DISTINCT | ALL )? selectResult (1)
      
      selectResults = selectResult ( _ ',' _ selectResult )* (2)
      
      selectResult = expression ( _ (AS)? columnAlias )? (3)
      
      columnAlias = IDENTIFIER

      Arguments

      1 The select clause begins with the SELECT keyword.
      • The optional ALL argument is used to specify that the query should return ALL results (the default)

      • The optional DISTINCT argument specifies that the query should remove duplicated results.

      2 selectResults is a list of columns projected in the query result. Each column is an expression which could be a property expression or any expressions or functions. You can use the wildcard * to select all columns — see Select Wildcard
      3 Use the optional AS argument to provides an alias name for a property. Each property can be aliased by putting the AS <alias name> after the column name.

      Select Wildcard

      When using the SELECT * option the column name (key) of the SQL++ string is one of:

      • The alias name if one was specified

      • The data source name (or its alias if provided) as specified in the FROM clause.

      This behavior is inline with that of Couchbase Server SQL++ — see example in Table 1.

      Table 1. Example Column Names for SELECT *
      Query Column Name

      SELECT * AS data FROM _

      data

      SELECT * FROM _

      _

      SELECT * FROM _default

      _default

      SELECT * FROM db

      db

      SELECT * FROM db AS store

      store

      Example

      Example 4. SELECT properties
      SELECT * (1)
      
      SELECT db.* AS data (2)
      
      SELECT name fullName (3)
      
      SELECT db.name fullName (4)
      
      SELECT DISTINCT address.city (5)
      1 Use the * wildcard to select all properties
      2 Select all properties from the db data source. Give the object an alias name of data
      3 Select pair of properties
      4 Select a specific property from the db data source.
      5 Select the property item city from its parent property address.

      See: Query Resultsets for more on processing query results.

      FROM

      Purpose

      Specifies the data source, or sources, and optionally applies an alias ( AS). It is mandatory.

      Syntax

      FROM dataSource  (1)
            (optional JOIN joinClause )  (2)

      Arguments

      1 Here dataSource is the database name against which the query is to run. Use AS to give the database an alias you can use within the query.
      To use the current database, without specifying a name, use _ as the datasource.
      2 JOIN joinclause — use this optional argument to link datasources — see JOIN statement

      Example

      Example 5. FROM clause
      SELECT name FROM db
      SELECT store.name FROM db AS store
      SELECT store.name FROM db store
      SELECT name FROM _
      SELECT store.name FROM _ AS store
      SELECT store.name FROM _ store

      JOIN statement

      Purpose

      The JOIN clause enables you to select data from multiple data sources linked by criteria specified in the JOIN statement.

      Currently only self-joins are supported. For example to combine airline details with route details, linked by the airline id — see Example 6.

      Syntax

      joinClause = ( join )*
      
      join = joinOperator _ dataSource _  (constraint)? (1)
      
      joinOperator = ( LEFT (OUTER)? | INNER | CROSS )? JOIN (2)
      
      dataSource = databaseName ( ( AS | _ )? databaseAlias )?
      
      constraint ( ON expression )? (3)

      Arguments

      1 The join clause starts with a JOIN operator followed by the data source.
      2 Five JOIN operators are supported:
      JOIN, LEFT JOIN, LEFT OUTER JOIN, INNER JOIN, and CROSS JOIN.
      Note: JOIN and INNER JOIN are the same, LEFT JOIN and LEFT OUTER JOIN are the same.
      3 The join constraint starts with the ON keyword followed by the expression that defines the joining constraints.

      Example

      SELECT db.prop1, other.prop2 FROM db JOIN db AS other ON db.key = other.key
      
      SELECT db.prop1, other.prop2 FROM db LEFT JOIN db other ON db.key = other.key
      
      SELECT * FROM travel-sample r JOIN travel-sample a ON r.airlineid = a.meta.id WHERE a.country = "France"
      Example 6. Using JOIN to Combine Document Details

      This example JOINS the document of type route with documents of type airline using the document ID (id) on the _airline document and airlineid on the route document.

      SELECT * FROM travel-sample r JOIN travel-sample a ON r.airlineid = a.meta.id WHERE a.country = "France"

      WHERE statement

      Purpose

      Specifies the selecion criteria used to filter results.

      As with SQL, use the WHERE statement to choose which documents are returned by your query.

      Syntax

      where = WHERE expression (1)

      Arguments

      1 WHERE evalates expression to a BOOLEAN value. You can chain any number of Expressions in order to implement sophisticated filtering capabilities.

      See also — Operators for more on building expressions and Query Parameters for more on parameterized queries.

      Examples

      SELECT name FROM db WHERE department = ‘engineer’ AND group = ‘mobile

      GROUP BY statement

      Purpose

      Use group by to arrange values in groups of one or more properties.

      Syntax

      groupBy = grouping _( having )? (1)
      
      grouping = GROUP BY expression( _ ',' _ expression )* (2)
      
      having = HAVING expression (3)

      Arguments

      1 The group by clause starts with the GROUP BY keyword followed by one or more expressions.
      2 Grouping

      The group by clause is normally used together with the aggregate functions (e.g. COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, AVG)

      3 Having — allows you to filter the result based on aggregate functions — for example, HAVING count(empnum)>100

      Examples

      SELECT COUNT(empno), city FROM db GROUP BY city
      
      SELECT COUNT(empno), city FROM db GROUP BY city HAVING COUNT(empno) > 100
      
      SELECT COUNT(empno), city FROM db GROUP BY city HAVING COUNT(empno) > 100 WHERE state = ‘CA’

      ORDER BY statement

      Purpose

      Sort query results based on a given expression result.

      Syntax

      orderBy = ORDER BY ordering ( _ ',' _ ordering )* (1)
      
      ordering = expression ( _ order )? (2)
      
      order = ( ASC / DESC ) (3)

      Arguments

      1 orderBy — The order by clause starts with the ORDER BY keyword followed by the ordering clause.
      2 Ordering — The ordering clause specifies the properties or expressions to use for ordering the results.
      3 Order — In each ordering clause, the sorting direction is specified using the optional ASC (ascending) or DESC (descending) directives. Default is ASC.

      Examples

      Example 7. Simple usage
      SELECT name FROM db  ORDER BY name
      
      SELECT name FROM db  ORDER BY name DESC
      
      SELECT name, score FROM db  ORDER BY name ASC, score DESC

      LIMIT statement

      Purpose

      Specifies the maximum number of results to be returned by the query.

      Syntax

      limit = LIMIT expression (1)

      Arguments

      1 The LIMIT clause starts with the LIMIT keyword followed by an expression that will be evaluated as a number.

      Examples

      Example 8. Simple usage
      SELECT name FROM db LIMIT 10 (1)
      1 Return only 10 results

      OFFSET statement

      Purpose

      Specifies the number of results to be skipped by the query.

      Syntax

      offset = OFFSET expression (1)

      Arguments

      1 The offset clause starts with the OFFSET keyword followed by an expression that will be evaluated as a number that represents the number of results ignored before the query begins returning results.

      Examples

      Example 9. Simple usage
      SELECT name FROM db OFFSET 10 (1)
      
      SELECT name FROM db  LIMIT 10 OFFSET 10 (2)
      1 Ignore first 10 results
      2 Ignore first 10 results then return the next 10 results

      Expressions

      Expressions are references to identifiers that resolve to values. Categories of expression comprise the elements covered in this section (see above), together with Operators and Functions, which are covered in their own sections

      Literals

      Boolean  |   Numeric  |   String  |   NULL  |   MISSING  |   Array  |   Dictionary  |  

      Boolean

      Purpose

      Represents a true or false value.

      Syntax

      TRUE | FALSE

      Example
      SELECT value FROM db  WHERE value = true
      SELECT value FROM db  WHERE value = false

      Numeric

      Purpose

      Represents a numeric value. Numbers may be signed or unsigned digits. They have optional fractional and exponent components.

      Syntax
      '-'? (('.' DIGIT+) | (DIGIT+ ('.' DIGIT*)?)) ( [Ee] [-+]? DIGIT+ )? WB
      
      DIGIT = [0-9]
      Example
      SELECT value FROM db  WHERE value = 10
      SELECT value FROM db  WHERE value = 0
      SELECT value FROM db WHERE value = -10
      SELECT value FROM db WHERE value = 10.25
      SELECT value FROM db WHERE value = 10.25e2
      SELECT value FROM db WHERE value = 10.25E2
      SELECT value FROM db WHERE value = 10.25E+2
      SELECT value FROM db WHERE value = 10.25E-2

      String

      Purpose

      The string literal represents a string or sequence of characters.

      Syntax
      “characters” |  ‘characters’ (1)
      1 The string literal can be double-quoted as well as single-quoted.
      Example
      SELECT firstName, lastName FROM db WHERE middleName = “middle”
      SELECT firstName, lastName FROM db WHERE middleName = ‘middle’

      NULL

      Purpose

      The literal NULL represents an empty value.

      Syntax
      NULL
      Example
      SELECT firstName, lastName FROM db WHERE middleName IS NULL

      MISSING

      Purpose

      The MISSING literal represents a missing name-value pair in a document.

      Syntax
      MISSING
      Example
      SELECT firstName, lastName FROM db WHERE middleName IS MISSING

      Array

      Purpose

      Represents an Array

      Syntax
      arrayLiteral = '[' _ (expression ( _ ',' _ e2:expression )* )? ']'
      Example
      SELECT [“a”, “b”, “c”] FROM _
      SELECT [ property1, property2, property3] FROM _

      Dictionary

      Purpose

      Represents a dictionary literal

      Syntax
      dictionaryLiteral = '{' _ ( STRING_LITERAL ':' e:expression
        ( _ ',' _ STRING_LITERAL ':' _ expression )* )?
         '}'
      Example
      SELECT { ‘name’: ‘James’, ‘department’: 10 } FROM db
      SELECT { ‘name’: ‘James’, ‘department’: dept } FROM db
      SELECT { ‘name’: ‘James’, ‘phones’: [‘650-100-1000’, ‘650-100-2000’] } FROM db

      Identifiers

      Purpose

      Identifiers provide symbolic references. Use them for example to identify: column alias names, database names, database alias names, property names, parameter names, function names, and FTS index names.

      Syntax

      <[a-zA-Z_] [a-zA-Z0-9_$]*> _ | "`" ( [^`] | "``"   )* "`"  _ (1)
      1 The identifier allows a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _ (underscore), and $ character.
      The identifier is case sensitive.
      To use other characters in the identifier, surround the identifier with the backticks ` character.

      Example

      Example 10. Identifiers
      SELECT * FROM _
      
      SELECT * FROM `db-1` (1)
      
      SELECT key FROM db
      
      SELECT key$1 FROM db_1
      
      SELECT `key-1` FROM db
      1 Use of backticks allows a hyphen as part of the identifier name.

      Property Expressions

      Purpose

      The property expression is used to reference a property in a document

      Syntax

      property = '*'| dataSourceName '.' _ '*'  | propertyPath (1)
      
      propertyPath = propertyName (
          ('.' _ propertyName ) |  (2)
          ('[' _ INT_LITERAL _ ']' _  ) (3)
          )* (4)
      
      propertyName = IDENTIFIER
      1 Prefix the property expression with the data source name or alias to indicate its origin
      2 Use dot syntax to refer to nested properties in the propertyPath.
      3 Use bracket ([index]) syntax to refer to an item in an array.
      4 Use the asterisk (*) character to represents all properties. This can only be used in the result list of the SELECT clause.

      Example

      Example 11. Property Expressions
      SELECT *
        FROM db
        WHERE contact.name = "daniel"
      
      SELECT db.*
        FROM db
        WHERE contact.name = "daniel"
      
      SELECT db.contact.address.city
        FROM db
        WHERE contact.name = "daniel"
      
      SELECT contact.address.city, contact.phones[0]
        FROM db
        WHERE contact.name = "daniel"

      Any and Every Expressions

      Purpose

      Evaluates expressions over items in an array object.

      Syntax

      arrayExpression = (1)
        anyEvery _ variableName (2)
           _ IN  _ expression (3)
             _ SATISFIES _ expression (4)
          END (5)
      
      anyEvery = anyOrSome AND EVERY | anyOrSome | EVERY
      
      anyOrSome = ANY | SOME
      1 The array expression starts with ANY/SOME, EVERY, or ANY/SOME AND EVERY, each of which has a different function as described below, and is terminated by END
      • ANY/SOME : Returns TRUE if at least one item in the array satisfies the expression, otherwise returns FALSE.
        NOTE: ANY and SOME are interchangeable

      • EVERY: Returns TRUE if all items in the array satisfies the expression, otherwise return FALSE. If the array is empty, returns TRUE.

      • ANY/SOME AND EVERY: Same as EVERY but returns false if the array is empty.

      2 The variable name represents each item in the array.
      3 The IN keyword is used for specifying the array to be evaluated.
      4 The SATISFIES keyword is used for evaluating each item in the array.
      5 END terminates the array expression.

      Example

      Example 12. ALL and Every Expressions
      SELECT name
        FROM db
        WHERE ANY v
                IN contacts
                SATISFIES v.city = ’San Mateo’
              END

      Parameter Expressions

      Purpose

      Parameter expressions specify a value to be assigned from the parameter map presented when executing the query.

      If parameters are specified in the query string, but the parameter and value mapping is not specified in the query object, an error will be thrown when executing the query.

      Syntax

      $IDENTIFIER

      Examples

      Example 13. Parameter Expression
      SELECT name
        FROM db
        WHERE department = $department
      Example 14. Using a Parameter
      let q = Query(
                query: “SELECT name
                          WHERE department = $department”,
                database: db
              );
      
      q.parameters =
            Parameters().setValue(“E001”, forName: "department"); (1)
      
      let result = q.execute();
      1 The query resolves to SELECT name WHERE department = "E001"

      Parenthesis Expressions

      Purpose

      Use parentheses to group expressions together to make them more readable or to establish operator precedences.

      Example

      Example 15. Parenthesis Expression
      SELECT (value1 + value2) * value 3 (1)
        FROM db
      
      SELECT *
        FROM db
        WHERE ((value1 + value2) * value3) + value4 = 10
      
      SELECT *
        FROM db
        WHERE (value1 = value2)
           OR (value3 = value4) (2)
      1 Establish the desired operator precedence; do the addition before the multiplication
      2 Clarify the conditional grouping

      Operators

      In this section

      Binary Operators  |   Unary Operators  |   COLLATE Operators  |   CONDITIONAL Operator

      Binary Operators

      Maths

      Table 2. Maths Operators
      Op Desc Example

      +

      Add

      WHERE v1 + v2 = 10

      -

      Subtract

      WHERE v1 - v2 = 10

      *

      Multiply

      WHERE v1 * v2 = 10

      /

      Divide — see note 1

      WHERE v1 / v2 = 10

      %

      Modulo

      WHERE v1 % v2 = 0

      1 If both operands are integers, integer division is used, but if one is a floating number, then float division is used. This differs from Server N1QL, which performs float division regardless. Use DIV(x, y) to force float division in CBL N1QL

      Comparison Operators

      Purpose

      The comparison operators are used in the WHERE statement to specify the condition on which to match documents.

      Table 3. Comparison Operators
      Op Desc Example

      = or ==

      Equals

      WHERE v1 = v2
      WHERE v1 == v2

      != or <>

      Not Equal to

      WHERE v1 != v2
      WHERE v1 <> v2

      >

      Greater than

      WHERE v1 > v2

      >=

      Greater than or equal to

      WHERE v1 >= v2

      >

      Less than

      WHERE v1 < v2

      >=

      Less than or equal to

      WHERE v1 ⇐ v2

      IN

      Returns TRUE if the value is in the list or array of values specified by the right hand side expression; Otherwise returns FALSE.

      WHERE “James” IN contactsList

      LIKE

      String wildcard pattern matching 2 comparison. Two wildcards are supported:

      • % Matches zero or more characters.

      • _ Matches a single character.

      WHERE name LIKE 'a%'
      WHERE name LIKE '%a'
      WHERE name LIKE '%or%'‘
      WHERE name LIKE 'a%o%'
      WHERE name LIKE '%_r%'
      WHERE name LIKE '%a_%'
      WHERE name LIKE '%a__%'
      WHERE name LIKE 'aldo'

      MATCH

      String matching using FTS see Full Text Search Functions

      WHERE v1-index MATCH "value"

      BETWEEN

      Logically equivalent to v1>=X and v1⇐X+z

      WHERE v1 BETWEEN 10 and 100

      IS 3 NULL

      Equal to null

      WHERE v1 IS NULL

      IS NOT NULL

      Not equal to null

      WHERE v1 IS NOT NULL

      IS MISSING

      Equal to MISSING

      WHERE v1 IS MISSING

      IS NOT MISSING

      Not equal to MISSING

      WHERE v1 IS NOT MISSING

      IS VALUED

      IS NOT NULL AND MISSING

      WHERE v1 IS VALUED

      IS NOT VALUED

      IS NULL OR MISSING

      WHERE v1 IS NOT VALUED

      2 Matching is case-insensitive for ASCII characters, case-sensitive for non-ASCII.

      3 Use of IS and IS NOT is limited to comparing NULL and MISSING values (this encompasses VALUED). This is different from QueryBuilder, in which they operate as equivalents of == and !=.

      Table 4. Comparing NULL and MISSING values using IS.
      OP NON-NULL Value NULL MISSING

      IS NULL

      FALSE

      TRUE

      MISSING

      IS NOT NULL

      TRUE

      FALSE

      MISSING

      IS MISSING

      FALSE

      FALSE

      TRUE

      IS NOT MISSING

      TRUE

      TRUE

      FALSE

      IS VALUED

      TRUE

      FALSE

      FALSE

      IS NOT VALUED

      FALSE

      TRUE

      TRUE

      Logical Operators

      Purpose

      Logical operators combine expressions using the following Boolean Logic Rules:

      • TRUE is TRUE, and FALSE is FALSE

      • Numbers 0 or 0.0 are FALSE

      • Arrays and dictionaries are FALSE

      • String and Blob are TRUE if the values are casted as a non-zero or FALSE if the values are casted as 0 or 0.0

      • NULL is FALSE

      • MISSING is MISSING

      This is different from Server N1QL, where:

      • MISSING, NULL and FALSE are FALSE

      • Numbers 0 is FALSE

      • Empty strings, arrays, and objects are FALSE

      • All other values are TRUE

      Use TOBOOLEAN(expr) function to convert a value based on Server SQL++ boolean value rules,
      Table 5. Logical Operators
      Op Description Example

      AND

      Returns TRUE if the operand expressions evaluate to TRUE; otherwise FALSE.

      If an operand is MISSING and the other is TRUE returns MISSING, if the other operand is FALSE it returns FALSE.

      If an operand is NULL and the other is TRUE returns NULL, if the other operand is FALSE it returns FALSE.

      WHERE city = “San Francisco” AND status = true

      OR

      Returns TRUE if one of the operand expressions is evaluated to TRUE; otherwise returns FALSE.

      If an operand is MISSING, the operation will result in MISSING if the other operand is FALSE or TRUE if the other operand is TRUE.

      If an operand is NULL, the operation will result in NULL if the other operand is FALSE or TRUE if the other operand is TRUE.

      WHERE city = “San Francisco” OR city = “Santa Clara”

      Table 6. Logical Operation Table
      a b a AND b a OR b

      TRUE

      TRUE

      TRUE

      TRUE

      FALSE

      FALSE

      TRUE

      NULL

      FALSE 5-1

      TRUE

      MISSING

      MISSING

      TRUE

      FALSE

      TRUE

      FALSE

      TRUE

      FALSE

      FALSE

      FALSE

      NULL

      FALSE

      FALSE 5-1

      MISSING

      FALSE

      MISSING

      NULL

      TRUE

      FALSE 5-1

      TRUE

      FALSE

      FALSE

      FALSE 5-1

      NULL

      FALSE 5-1

      FALSE 5-1

      MISSING

      FALSE 5-2

      MISSING 5-3

      MISSING

      TRUE

      MISSING

      TRUE

      FALSE

      FALSE

      MISSING

      NULL

      FALSE 5-2

      MISSING 5-3

      MISSING

      MISSING

      MISSING

      This differs from Server SQL++ in the following instances:
      5-1 Server will return: NULL instead of FALSE
      5-2 Server will return: MISSING instead of FALSE
      5-3 Server will return: NULL instead of MISSING

      String Operator

      Purpose

      A single string operator is provided. It enables string concatenation.

      Table 7. String Operators
      Op Description Example

      ||

      Concatenating

      SELECT firstnm || lastnm AS fullname FROM db

      Unary Operators

      Purpose

      Three unary operators are provided. They operate by modifying an expression, making it numerically positive or negative, or by logically negating its value (TRUE becomes FALSE).

      Syntax

      // UNARY_OP _ expr
      Table 8. Unary Operators
      Op Description Example

      +

      Positive value

      WHERE v1 = +10

      +

      Negative value

      WHERE v1 = -10

      NOT

      Logical Negate operator *

      WHERE "James" NOT IN contactsList

      * The NOT operator is often used in conjunction with operators such as IN, LIKE, MATCH, and BETWEEN operators.
      NOT operation on NULL value returns NULL.
      NOT operation on MISSING value returns MISSING.

      Table 9. NOT Operation TABLE
      a NOT a

      TRUE

      FALSE

      FALSE

      TRUE

      NULL

      FALSE

      MISSING

      MISSING

      COLLATE Operators

      Purpose

      Collate operators specify how the string comparison is conducted.

      Usage

      The collate operator is used in conjunction with string comparison expressions and ORDER BY clauses. It allows for one or more collations.

      If multiple collations are used, the collations need to be specified in a parenthesis. When only one collation is used, the parenthesis is optional.

      Collate is not supported by Server N1QL

      Syntax

      collate = COLLATE collation | '(' collation (_ collation )* ')'
      
      collation = NO? (UNICODE | CASE | DIACRITICS) WB (1)

      Arguments

      1 The available collation options are:
      • UNICODE: Conduct a Unicode comparison; the default is to do ASCII comparison.

      • CASE: Conduct case-sensitive comparison

      • DIACRITIC: Take account of accents and diacritics in the comparison; On by default.

      • NO: This can be used as a prefix to the other collations, to disable thm (for example: NOCASE to enable case-insensitive comparison)

      Example

      SELECT department FROM db WHERE (name = "fred") COLLATE UNICODE
      SELECT department FROM db WHERE (name = "fred")
      COLLATE (UNICODE)
      SELECT department FROM db WHERE (name = "fred") COLLATE (UNICODE CASE)
      SELECT name FROM db ORDER BY name COLLATE (UNICODE DIACRITIC)

      CONDITIONAL Operator

      Purpose

      The Conditional (or CASE) operator evaluates conditional logic in a similar way to the IF/ELSE operator.

      Syntax

      CASE (expression) (WHEN expression THEN expression)+ (ELSE expression)? END (1)
      
      CASE (expression)? (!WHEN expression)?
        (WHEN expression THEN expression)+ (ELSE expression)? END (2)

      Both Simple Case and Searched Case expressions are supported. The syntactic difference being that the Simple Case expression has an expression after the CASE keyword.

      1 Simple Case Expression
      • If the CASE expression is equal to the first WHEN expression, the result is the THEN expression.

      • Otherwise, any subsequent WHEN clauses are evaluated in the same way.

      • If no match is found, the result of the CASE expression is the ELSE expression, NULL if no ELSE expression was provided.

      2 Searched Case Expression
      • If the first WHEN expression is TRUE, the result of this expression is its THEN expression.

      • Otherwise, subsequent WHEN clauses are evaluated in the same way. If no WHEN clause evaluate to TRUE, then the result of the expression is the ELSE expression, or NULL if no ELSE expression was provided.

      Example

      Example 16. Simple Case
      SELECT CASE state WHEN ‘CA’ THEN ‘Local’ ELSE ‘Non-Local’ END FROM DB
      Example 17. Searched Case
      SELECT CASE WHEN shippedOn IS NOT NULL THEN ‘SHIPPED’ ELSE "NOT-SHIPPED" END FROM db

      Functions

      Purpose

      Functions are also expressions.

      Syntax

      The function syntax is the same as Java’s method syntax. It starts with the function name, followed by optional arguments inside parentheses.

      function = functionName parenExprs
      
      functionName  = IDENTIFIER
      
      parenExprs = '(' ( expression (_ ',' _ expression )* )? ')'

      Aggregation Functions

      Table 10. Aggregation Functions
      Function Description

      AVG(expr)

      Returns average value of the number values in the group

      COUNT(expr)

      Returns a count of all values in the group

      MIN(expr)

      Returns the minimum value in the group

      MAX(expr)

      Returns the maximum value in the group

      SUM(expr)

      Returns the sum of all number values in the group

      Array Functions

      Table 11. Array Functions
      Function Description

      ARRAY_AGG(expr)

      Returns an array of the non-MISSING group values in the input expression, including NULL values.

      ARRAY_AVG(expr)

      Returns the average of all non-NULL number values in the array; or NULL if there are none

      ARRAY_CONTAINS(expr)

      Returns TRUE if the value exists in the array; otherwise FALSE

      ARRAY_COUNT(expr)

      Returns the number of non-null values in the array

      ARRAY_IFNULL(expr)

      Returns the first non-null value in the array

      ARRAY_MAX(expr)

      Returns the largest non-NULL, non_MISSING value in the array

      ARRAY_MIN(expr)

      Returns the smallest non-NULL, non_MISSING value in the array

      ARRAY_LENGTH(expr)

      Returns the length of the array

      ARRAY_SUM(expr)

      Returns the sum of all non-NULL numeric value in the array

      Conditional Functions

      Table 12. Conditional Functions
      Function Description

      IFMISSING(expr1, expr2, …​)

      Returns the first non-MISSING value, or NULL if all values are MISSING

      IFMISSINGRONULL(expr1, expr2, …​)

      Returns the first non-NULL and non-MISSING value, or NULL if all values are NULL or MISSING

      IFNULL(expr1, expr2, …​)

      Returns the first non-NULL, or NULL if all values are NULL

      MISSINGIF(expr1, expr2)

      Returns MISSING when expr1 = expr2; otherwise returns expr1.
      Returns MISSING if either or both expressions are MISSING.
      Returns NULL if either or both expressions are NULL.+

      NULLF(expr1, expr2)

      Returns NULL when expr1 = expr2; otherwise returns expr1.
      Returns MISSING if either or both expressions are MISSING.
      Returns NULL if either or both expressions are NULL.+

      Date and Time Functions

      Table 13. Date and Time Functions
      Function Description

      STR_TO_MILLIS(expr)

      Returns the number of milliseconds since the unix epoch of the given ISO 8601 date input string.

      STR_TO_UTC(expr)

      Returns the ISO 8601 UTC date time string of the given ISO 8601 date input string.

      MILLIS_TO_STR(expr)

      Returns a ISO 8601 date time string in device local timezone of the given number of milliseconds since the unix epoch expression.

      MILLIS_TO_UTC(expr)

      Returns the UTC ISO 8601 date time string of the given number of milliseconds since the unix epoch expression.

      Full Text Search Functions

      Table 14. FTS Functions
      Function Description Example

      MATCH(indexName, term)

      Returns TRUE if term expression matches the FTS indexed term. indexName identifies the FTS index, term expression to search for matching.

      WHERE MATCH (description, “couchbase”)

      RANK(indexName)

      Returns a numeric value indicating how well the current query result matches the full-text query when performing the MATCH. indexName is an IDENTIFIER for the FTS index.

      WHERE MATCH (description, “couchbase”) ORDER BY RANK(description)

      Maths Functions

      Table 15. Maths Functions
      Function Description

      ABS(expr)

      Returns the absolute value of a number.

      ACOS(expr)

      Returns the arc cosine in radians.

      ASIN(expr)

      Returns the arcsine in radians.

      ATAN(expr)

      Returns the arctangent in radians.

      ATAN2(expr1,expr2)

      Returns the arctangent of expr1/expr2.

      CEIL(expr)

      Returns the smallest integer not less than the number.

      COS(expr)

      Returns the cosine value of the expression.

      DIV(expr1, expr2)

      Returns float division of expr1 and expr2.
      Both expr1 and expr2 are cast to a double number before division.
      The returned result is always a double.

      DEGREES(expr)

      Converts radians to degrees.

      E()

      Returns base of natural logarithms.

      EXP(expr)

      Returns expr value

      FLOOR(expr)

      Returns largest integer not greater than the number.

      IDIV(expr1, expr2)

      Returns integer division of expr1 and expr2.

      LN(expr)

      Returns log base e value.

      LOG(expr)

      Returns log base 10 value.

      PI()

      Return PI value.

      POWER(expr1, expr2)

      Returns expr1expr2 value.

      RADIANS(expr)

      Returns degrees to radians.

      ROUND(expr (, digits_expr)?)

      Returns the rounded value to the given number of integer digits to the right of the decimal point (left if digits is negative). Digits are 0 if not given.
      The function uses Rounding Away From Zero convention to round midpoint values to the next number away from zero (so, for example, ROUND(1.75) returns 1.8 but ROUND(1.85) returns 1.9. *

      ROUND_EVEN(expr (, digits_expr)?)

      Returns rounded value to the given number of integer digits to the right of the decimal point (left if digits is negative). Digits are 0 if not given.

      The function uses Rounding to Nearest Even (Banker’s Rounding) convention which rounds midpoint values to the nearest even number (for example, both ROUND_EVEN(1.75) and ROUND_EVEN(1.85) return 1.8).

      SIGN(expr)

      Returns -1 for negative, 0 for zero, and 1 for positive numbers.

      SIN(expr)

      Returns sine value.

      SQRT(expr)

      Returns square root value.

      TAN(expr)

      Returns tangent value.

      TRUNC (expr (, digits, expr)?)

      Returns a truncated number to the given number of integer digits to the right of the decimal point (left if digits is negative). Digits are 0 if not given.

      * The behavior of the ROUND() function is different from Server SQL++ ROUND(), which rounds the midpoint values using Rounding to Nearest Even convention.

      Metadata Functions

      Table 16. Metadata Functions
      Function Description Example

      META(dataSourceName?)

      Returns a dictionary containing metadata properties including:

      • id : document identifier

      • sequence : document mutating sequence number

      • deleted : flag indicating whether document is deleted or not

      • expiration : document expiration date in timestamp format

      The optional dataSourceName identifies the database or the database alias name.
      To access a specific metadata property, use the dot expression.

      SELECT META() FROM db

      SELECT META().id, META().sequence, META().deleted, META().expiration FROM db

      SELECT p.name, r.rating FROM product as p INNER JOIN reviews AS r ON META(r).id IN p.reviewList WHERE META(p).id = "product320"

      Pattern Searching Functions

      Table 17. Pattern Searching Functions
      Function Description

      REGEXP_CONTAINS(expr, pattern)

      Returns TRUE if the string value contains any sequence that matches the regular expression pattern.

      REGEXP_LIKE(expr, pattern)

      Return TRUE if the string value exactly matches the regular expression pattern.

      REGEXP_POSITION(expr, pattern)

      Returns the first position of the occurrence of the regular expression pattern within the input string expression. Return -1 if no match is found. Position counting starts from zero.

      REGEXP_REPLACE(expr, pattern, repl [, n])

      Returns new string with occurrences of pattern replaced with repl. If n is given, at the most n replacements are performed. If n is not given, all matching occurrences are replaced.

      String Functions

      Table 18. String Functions
      Function Description

      CONTAINS(expr, substring_expr)

      Returns true if the substring exists within the input string, otherwise returns false.

      LENGTH(expr)

      Returns the length of a string. The length is defined as the number of characters within the string.

      LOWER(expr)

      Returns the lowercase string of the input string.

      LTRIM(expr)

      Returns the string with all leading whitespace characters removed.

      RTRIM(expr)

      Returns the string with all trailing whitespace characters removed.

      TRIM(expr)

      Returns the string with all leading and trailing whitespace characters removed.

      UPPER(expr)

      Returns the uppercase string of the input string.

      Type Checking Functions

      Table 19. Type Checking Functions
      Function Description

      ISARRAY(expr)

      Returns TRUE if expression is an array, otherwise returns MISSING, NULL or FALSE.

      ISATOM(expr)

      Returns TRUE if expression is a Boolean, number, or string, otherwise returns MISSING, NULL or FALSE.

      ISBOOLEAN(expr)

      Returns TRUE if expression is a Boolean, otherwise returns MISSING, NULL or FALSE.

      ISNUMBER(expr)

      Returns TRUE if expression is a number, otherwise returns MISSING, NULL or FALSE.

      ISOBJECT(expr)

      Returns TRUE if expression is an object (dictionary), otherwise returns MISSING, NULL or FALSE.

      ISSTRING(expr)

      Returns TRUE if expression is a string, otherwise returns MISSING, NULL or FALSE.

      TYPE(expr)

      Returns one of the following strings, based on the value of expression:

      • “missing”

      • “null”

      • “boolean”

      • “number”

      • “string”

      • “array”

      • “object”

      • “binary”

      Type Conversion Functions

      Table 20. Type Conversion Functions
      Function Description

      TOARRAY(expr)

      Returns MISSING if the value is MISSING.

      Returns NULL if the value is NULL.

      Returns the array itself.

      Returns all other values wrapped in an array.

      TOATOM(expr)

      Returns MISSING if the value is MISSING.

      Returns NULL if the value is NULL.

      Returns an array of a single item if the value is an array.

      Returns an object of a single key/value pair if the value is an object.

      Returns boolean, numbers, or strings

      Returns NULL for all other values.

      TOBOOLEAN(expr)

      Returns MISSING if the value is MISSING.

      Returns NULL if the value is NULL.

      Returns FALSE if the value is FALSE.

      Returns FALSE if the value is 0 or NaN.

      Returns FALSE if the value is an empty string, array, and object.

      Return TRUE for all other values.

      TONUMBER(expr)

      Returns MISSING if the value is MISSING.

      Returns NULL if the value is NULL.

      Returns 0 if the value is FALSE.

      Returns 1 if the value is TRUE.

      Returns NUMBER if the value is NUMBER.

      Returns NUMBER parsed from the string value.

      Returns NULL for all other values.

      TOOBJECT(expr)

      Returns MISSING if the value is MISSING.

      Returns NULL if the value is NULL.

      Returns the object if the value is an object.

      Returns an empty object for all other values.

      TOSTRING(expr)

      Returns MISSING if the value is MISSING.

      Returns NULL if the value is NULL.

      Returns “false” if the value is FALSE.

      Returns “true” if the value is TRUE.

      Returns NUMBER in String if the value is NUMBER.

      Returns the string value if the value is a string.

      Returns NULL for all other values.

      QueryBuilder Differences

      Couchbase Lite SQL++ Query supports all QueryBuilder features, except Predictive Query and Index. See Table 21 for the features supported by SQL++ but not by QueryBuilder.

      Table 21. QueryBuilder Differences
      Category Components

      Conditional Operator

      CASE(WHEN …​ THEN …​ ELSE ..)

      Array Functions

      ARRAY_AGG ARRAY_AVG ARRAY_COUNT ARRAY_IFNULL ARRAY_MAX ARRAY_MIN ARRAY_SUM

      Conditional Functions

      IFMISSING IFMISSINGORNULL IFNULL MISSINGIF NULLIF Match Functions DIV IDIV ROUND_EVEN

      Pattern Matching Functions

      REGEXP_CONTAINS REGEXP_LIKE REGEXP_POSITION REGEXP_REPLACE

      Type Checking Functions

      ISARRAY ISATOM ISBOOLEAN ISNUMBER ISOBJECT ISSTRING TYPE

      Type Conversion Functions

      TOARRAY TOATOM TOBOOLEAN TONUMBER TOOBJECT TOSTRING

      Query Parameters

      You can provide runtime parameters to your SQL++ query to make it more flexible.

      To specify substitutable parameters within your query string prefix the name with $, $type — see: Example 18.

      Example 18. Running a SQL++ Query
      • Kotlin

      • Java

      val thisQuery = db.createQuery(
            "SELECT META().id AS id FROM _ WHERE type = \$type") (1)
      
      thisQuery.parameters = Parameters().setString("type", "hotel") (2)
      
      return thisQuery.execute().allResults()
      //  Declared elsewhere: Database argDB
      
      Database thisDb = argDB;
      
      Query thisQuery =
          thisDb.createQuery(
              "SELECT META().id AS thisId FROM _ WHERE type = $type"); // <.
      
      thisQuery.parameters =
          Parameters.setString("type", "hotel"); (1)
      
      return thisQuery.execute().allResults();
      1 Define a parameter placeholder $type
      2 Set the value of the $type parameter