---
title: "SQL"
weight: 1
type: docs
aliases:
  - /dev/table/sql/
  - /dev/python/table-api-users-guide/sql.html
---
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# SQL

This page describes the SQL language supported in Flink, including Data Definition Language (DDL), Data Manipulation Language (DML) and Query Language. Flink’s SQL support is based on [Apache Calcite](https://calcite.apache.org/) which implements the SQL standard.

This page lists all the supported statements supported in Flink SQL for now:

- [SELECT (Queries)]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/queries/overview" >}})
- [CREATE TABLE, CATALOG, DATABASE, VIEW, FUNCTION]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/ddl/create" >}})
- [DROP TABLE, DATABASE, VIEW, FUNCTION]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/ddl/drop" >}})
- [ALTER TABLE, DATABASE, FUNCTION]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/ddl/alter" >}})
- [ANALYZE TABLE]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/utility/analyze" >}})
- [INSERT]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/dml/insert" >}})
- [UPDATE]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/dml/update" >}})
- [DELETE]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/dml/delete" >}})
- [DESCRIBE]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/utility/describe" >}})
- [EXPLAIN]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/utility/explain" >}})
- [USE]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/utility/use" >}})
- [SHOW]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/utility/show" >}})
- [LOAD]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/utility/load" >}})
- [UNLOAD]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/utility/unload" >}})

## Data Types

Please see the dedicated page about [data types]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/data-types" >}}).

Generic types and (nested) composite types (e.g., POJOs, tuples, rows, Scala case classes) can be fields of a row as well.

Fields of composite types with arbitrary nesting can be accessed with [value access functions]({{< ref "docs/sql/functions/built-in-functions" >}}#value-access-functions).

Generic types are treated as a black box and can be passed on or processed by [user-defined functions]({{< ref "docs/dev/table/functions/udfs" >}}).

For DDLs, we support full data types defined in page [Data Types]({{< ref "docs/sql/reference/data-types" >}}).

**Notes:** Some of the data types are not supported in SQL queries yet (i.e. in cast expressions or literals). E.g. `STRING`, `BYTES`, `RAW`, `TIME(p) WITHOUT TIME ZONE`, `TIME(p) WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE`, `TIMESTAMP(p) WITHOUT TIME ZONE`, `TIMESTAMP(p) WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE`, `ARRAY`, `MULTISET`, `ROW`.

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## Reserved Keywords

Although not every SQL feature is implemented yet, some string combinations are already reserved as keywords for future use. If you want to use one of the following strings as a field name, make sure to surround them with backticks (e.g. `` `value` ``, `` `count` ``).

  A, ABS, ABSOLUTE, ACTION, ADA, ADD, ADMIN, AFTER, ALL, ALLOCATE, ALLOW, ALTER, ALWAYS, AND, ANALYZE, ANY, ARE, ARRAY, AS, ASC, ASENSITIVE, ASSERTION, ASSIGNMENT, ASYMMETRIC, AT, ATOMIC, ATTRIBUTE, ATTRIBUTES, AUTHORIZATION, AVG, BEFORE, BEGIN, BERNOULLI, BETWEEN, BIGINT, BINARY, BIT, BLOB, BOOLEAN, BOTH, BREADTH, BY, BYTES, C, CALL, CALLED, CARDINALITY, CASCADE, CASCADED, CASE, CAST, CATALOG, CATALOG_NAME, CEIL, CEILING, CENTURY, CHAIN, CHAR, CHARACTER, CHARACTERISTICS, CHARACTERS, CHARACTER_LENGTH, CHARACTER_SET_CATALOG, CHARACTER_SET_NAME, CHARACTER_SET_SCHEMA, CHAR_LENGTH, CHECK, CLASS_ORIGIN, CLOB, CLOSE, COALESCE, COBOL, COLLATE, COLLATION, COLLATION_CATALOG, COLLATION_NAME, COLLATION_SCHEMA, COLLECT, COLUMN, COLUMNS, COLUMN_NAME, COMMAND_FUNCTION, COMMAND_FUNCTION_CODE, COMMIT, COMMITTED, CONDITION, CONDITION_NUMBER, CONNECT, CONNECTION, CONNECTION_NAME, CONSTRAINT, CONSTRAINTS, CONSTRAINT_CATALOG, CONSTRAINT_NAME, CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA, CONSTRUCTOR, CONTAINS, CONTINUE, CONVERT, CORR, CORRESPONDING, COUNT, COVAR_POP, COVAR_SAMP, CREATE, CROSS, CUBE, CUME_DIST, CURRENT, CURRENT_CATALOG, CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_DEFAULT_TRANSFORM_GROUP, CURRENT_PATH, CURRENT_ROLE, CURRENT_SCHEMA, CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, CURRENT_TRANSFORM_GROUP_FOR_TYPE, CURRENT_USER, CURSOR, CURSOR_NAME, CYCLE, DATA, DATABASE, DATE, DATETIME_INTERVAL_CODE, DATETIME_INTERVAL_PRECISION, DAY, DEALLOCATE, DEC, DECADE, DECIMAL, DECLARE, DEFAULT, DEFAULTS, DEFERRABLE, DEFERRED, DEFINED, DEFINER, DEGREE, DELETE, DENSE_RANK, DEPTH, DEREF, DERIVED, DESC, DESCRIBE, DESCRIPTION, DESCRIPTOR, DETERMINISTIC, DIAGNOSTICS, DISALLOW, DISCONNECT, DISPATCH, DISTINCT, DOMAIN, DOUBLE, DOW, DOY, DROP, DYNAMIC, DYNAMIC_FUNCTION, DYNAMIC_FUNCTION_CODE, EACH, ELEMENT, ELSE, END, END-EXEC, EPOCH, EQUALS, ESCAPE, EVERY, EXCEPT, EXCEPTION, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDING, EXEC, EXECUTE, EXISTS, EXP, EXPLAIN, EXTEND, EXTERNAL, EXTRACT, FALSE, FETCH, FILTER, FINAL, FIRST, FIRST_VALUE, FLOAT, FLOOR, FOLLOWING, FOR, FOREIGN, FORTRAN, FOUND, FRAC_SECOND, FREE, FROM, FULL, FUNCTION, FUSION, G, GENERAL, GENERATED, GET, GLOBAL, GO, GOTO, GRANT, GRANTED, GROUP, GROUPING, HAVING, HIERARCHY, HOLD, HOUR, IDENTITY, IMMEDIATE, IMPLEMENTATION, IMPORT, IN, INCLUDING, INCREMENT, INDICATOR, INITIALLY, INNER, INOUT, INPUT, INSENSITIVE, INSERT, INSTANCE, INSTANTIABLE, INT, INTEGER, INTERSECT, INTERSECTION, INTERVAL, INTO, INVOKER, IS, ISOLATION, JAVA, JOIN, K, KEY, KEY_MEMBER, KEY_TYPE, LABEL, LANGUAGE, LARGE, LAST, LAST_VALUE, LATERAL, LEADING, LEFT, LENGTH, LEVEL, LIBRARY, LIKE, LIMIT, LN, LOCAL, LOCALTIME, LOCALTIMESTAMP, LOCATOR, LOWER, M, MAP, MATCH, MATCHED, MAX, MAXVALUE, MEMBER, MERGE, MESSAGE_LENGTH, MESSAGE_OCTET_LENGTH, MESSAGE_TEXT, METHOD, MICROSECOND, MILLENNIUM, MIN, MINUTE, MINVALUE, MOD, MODIFIES, MODULE, MODULES, MONTH, MORE, MULTISET, MUMPS, NAME, NAMES, NATIONAL, NATURAL, NCHAR, NCLOB, NESTING, NEW, NEXT, NO, NONE, NORMALIZE, NORMALIZED, NOT, NULL, NULLABLE, NULLIF, NULLS, NUMBER, NUMERIC, OBJECT, OCTETS, OCTET_LENGTH, OF, OFFSET, OLD, ON, ONLY, OPEN, OPTION, OPTIONS, OR, ORDER, ORDERING, ORDINALITY, OTHERS, OUT, OUTER, OUTPUT, OVER, OVERLAPS, OVERLAY, OVERRIDING, PAD, PARAMETER, PARAMETER_MODE, PARAMETER_NAME, PARAMETER_ORDINAL_POSITION, PARAMETER_SPECIFIC_CATALOG, PARAMETER_SPECIFIC_NAME, PARAMETER_SPECIFIC_SCHEMA, PARTIAL, PARTITION, PASCAL, PASSTHROUGH, PATH, PERCENTILE_CONT, PERCENTILE_DISC, PERCENT_RANK, PLACING, PLAN, PLI, POSITION, POWER, PRECEDING, PRECISION, PREPARE, PRESERVE, PRIMARY, PRIOR, PRIVILEGES, PROCEDURE, PUBLIC, QUARTER, RANGE, RANK, RAW, READ, READS, REAL, RECURSIVE, REF, REFERENCES, REFERENCING, REGR_AVGX, REGR_AVGY, REGR_COUNT, REGR_INTERCEPT, REGR_R2, REGR_SLOPE, REGR_SXX, REGR_SXY, REGR_SYY, RELATIVE, RELEASE, REPEATABLE, RESET, RESTART, RESTRICT, RESULT, RETURN, RETURNED_CARDINALITY, RETURNED_LENGTH, RETURNED_OCTET_LENGTH, RETURNED_SQLSTATE, RETURNS, REVOKE, RIGHT, ROLE, ROLLBACK, ROLLUP, ROUTINE, ROUTINE_CATALOG, ROUTINE_NAME, ROUTINE_SCHEMA, ROW, ROWS, ROW_COUNT, ROW_NUMBER, SAVEPOINT, SCALE, SCHEMA, SCHEMA_NAME, SCOPE, SCOPE_CATALOGS, SCOPE_NAME, SCOPE_SCHEMA, SCROLL, SEARCH, SECOND, SECTION, SECURITY, SELECT, SELF, SENSITIVE, SEQUENCE, SERIALIZABLE, SERVER, SERVER_NAME, SESSION, SESSION_USER, SET, SETS, SIMILAR, SIMPLE, SIZE, SMALLINT, SOME, SOURCE, SPACE, SPECIFIC, SPECIFICTYPE, SPECIFIC_NAME, SQL, SQLEXCEPTION, SQLSTATE, SQLWARNING, SQL_TSI_DAY, SQL_TSI_FRAC_SECOND, SQL_TSI_HOUR, SQL_TSI_MICROSECOND, SQL_TSI_MINUTE, SQL_TSI_MONTH, SQL_TSI_QUARTER, SQL_TSI_SECOND, SQL_TSI_WEEK, SQL_TSI_YEAR, SQRT, START, STATE, STATEMENT, STATIC, STATISTICS, STDDEV_POP, STDDEV_SAMP, STREAM, STRING, STRUCTURE, STYLE, SUBCLASS_ORIGIN, SUBMULTISET, SUBSTITUTE, SUBSTRING, SUM, SYMMETRIC, SYSTEM, SYSTEM_USER, TABLE, TABLESAMPLE, TABLE_NAME, TEMPORARY, THEN, TIES, TIME, TIMESTAMP, TIMESTAMPADD, TIMESTAMPDIFF, TIMEZONE_HOUR, TIMEZONE_MINUTE, TINYINT, TO, TOP_LEVEL_COUNT, TRAILING, TRANSACTION, TRANSACTIONS_ACTIVE, TRANSACTIONS_COMMITTED, TRANSACTIONS_ROLLED_BACK, TRANSFORM, TRANSFORMS, TRANSLATE, TRANSLATION, TREAT, TRIGGER, TRIGGER_CATALOG, TRIGGER_NAME, TRIGGER_SCHEMA, TRIM, TRUE, TYPE, UESCAPE, UNBOUNDED, UNCOMMITTED, UNDER, UNION, UNIQUE, UNKNOWN, UNNAMED, UNNEST, UPDATE, UPPER, UPSERT, USAGE, USER, USER_DEFINED_TYPE_CATALOG, USER_DEFINED_TYPE_CODE, USER_DEFINED_TYPE_NAME, USER_DEFINED_TYPE_SCHEMA, USING, VALUE, VALUES, VARBINARY, VARCHAR, VARYING, VAR_POP, VAR_SAMP, VERSION, VIEW, WEEK, WHEN, WHENEVER, WHERE, WIDTH_BUCKET, WINDOW, WITH, WITHIN, WITHOUT, WORK, WRAPPER, WRITE, XML, YEAR, ZONE


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