SQL Statements

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CockroachDB supports the following SQL statements. Click a statement for more details.

Tip:

In the built-in SQL shell, use \h [statement] to get inline help about a specific statement.

Data manipulation statements

Statement Usage
CREATE TABLE AS Create a new table in a database using the results from a selection query.
DELETE Delete specific rows from a table.
EXPORT Export an entire table's data, or the results of a SELECT statement, to CSV files. Note that this statement requires an enterprise license.
IMPORT Bulk-insert CSV data into a new table.
IMPORT INTO Bulk-insert CSV data into an existing table.
INSERT Insert rows into a table.
SELECT Select specific rows and columns from a table and optionally compute derived values.
SELECT FOR UPDATE New in v20.1: Order transactions by controlling concurrent access to one or more rows of a table.
TABLE Select all rows and columns from a table.
TRUNCATE Delete all rows from specified tables.
UPDATE Update rows in a table.
UPSERT Insert rows that do not violate uniqueness constraints; update rows that do.
VALUES Return rows containing specific values.

Data definition statements

Statement Usage
ADD COLUMN Add columns to a table.
ADD CONSTRAINT Add a constraint to a column.
ALTER COLUMN Change a column's Default constraint or NOT NULL constraint.
ALTER DATABASE Apply a schema change to a database.
ALTER INDEX Apply a schema change to an index.
ALTER PARTITION Configure the replication zone for a partition. Note that partitioning requires an enterprise license.
ALTER PRIMARY KEY New in v20.1: Change the primary key of a table.
ALTER RANGE Configure the replication zone for a system range.
ALTER SEQUENCE Apply a schema change to a sequence.
ALTER TABLE Apply a schema change to a table.
ALTER USER add, change, or remove a user's password and to change the login privileges for a role.
ALTER ROLE Add, change, or remove a role's password and to change the login privileges for a role.
ALTER VIEW Rename a view.
COMMENT ON Associate a comment to a database, table, or column.
CONFIGURE ZONE Add, modify, reset, or remove a replication zone for a database, table, index, partition, or system range.
CREATE DATABASE Create a new database.
CREATE INDEX Create an index for a table.
CREATE SEQUENCE Create a new sequence.
CREATE TABLE Create a new table in a database.
CREATE TABLE AS Create a new table in a database using the results from a selection query.
CREATE VIEW Create a new view in a database.
DROP COLUMN Remove columns from a table.
DROP CONSTRAINT Remove constraints from a column.
DROP DATABASE Remove a database and all its objects.
DROP INDEX Remove an index for a table.
DROP SEQUENCE Remove a sequence.
DROP TABLE Remove a table.
DROP VIEW Remove a view.
EXPERIMENTAL_AUDIT Turn SQL audit logging on or off for a table.
PARTITION BY Partition, re-partition, or un-partition a table or secondary index. Note that partitioning requires an enterprise license.
RENAME COLUMN Rename a column in a table.
RENAME CONSTRAINT Rename a constraint on a column.
RENAME DATABASE Rename a database.
RENAME INDEX Rename an index for a table.
RENAME SEQUENCE Rename a sequence.
RENAME TABLE Rename a table or move a table between databases.
SHOW COLUMNS View details about columns in a table.
SHOW CONSTRAINTS List constraints on a table.
SHOW CREATE View the CREATE statement for a table, view, or sequence.
SHOW DATABASES List databases in the cluster.
SHOW INDEX View index information for a table or database.
SHOW LOCALITY View the locality of the current node.
SHOW PARTITIONS List partitions in a database. Note that partitioning requires an enterprise license.
SHOW SCHEMAS List the schemas in a database.
SHOW SEQUENCES List the sequences in a database.
SHOW TABLES List tables or views in a database or virtual schema.
SHOW RANGES Show range information about a specific table or index.
SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATIONS List details about existing replication zones.
SPLIT AT Force a range split at the specified row in the table or index.
UNSPLIT AT Remove a range split enforcement at a specified row in the table or index.
VALIDATE CONSTRAINT Check whether values in a column match a constraint on the column.

Transaction management statements

Statement Usage
BEGIN Initiate a transaction.
COMMIT Commit the current transaction.
SAVEPOINT New in v20.1: Start a nested transaction.
RELEASE SAVEPOINT Commit a nested transaction.
ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT Roll back and restart the nested transaction started at the corresponding SAVEPOINT statement.
ROLLBACK Roll back the current transaction and all of its nested transaction, discarding all transactional updates made by statements inside the transaction.
SET TRANSACTION Set the priority for the session or for an individual transaction.
SHOW View the current transaction settings.

Access management statements

Statement Usage
CREATE ROLE Create SQL roles, which are groups containing any number of roles and users as members.
CREATE USER Create SQL users, which lets you control privileges on your databases and tables.
DROP ROLE Remove one or more SQL roles.
DROP USER Remove one or more SQL users.
GRANT <privileges> Grant privileges to users or roles.
GRANT <roles> Add a role or user as a member to a role.
REVOKE <privileges> Revoke privileges from users or roles.
REVOKE <roles> Revoke a role or user's membership to a role.
SHOW GRANTS View privileges granted to users.
SHOW ROLES Lists the roles for all databases.
SHOW USERS Lists the users for all databases.

Session management statements

Statement Usage
RESET Reset a session variable to its default value.
SET Set a current session variable.
SET TRANSACTION Set the priority for an individual transaction.
SHOW TRACE FOR SESSION Return details about how CockroachDB executed a statement or series of statements recorded during a session.
SHOW List the current session or transaction settings.

Cluster management statements

Statement Usage
RESET CLUSTER SETTING Reset a cluster setting to its default value.
SET CLUSTER SETTING Set a cluster-wide setting.
SHOW ALL CLUSTER SETTINGS List the current cluster-wide settings.
SHOW SESSIONS List details about currently active sessions.
CANCEL SESSION Cancel a long-running session.

Query management statements

Statement Usage
CANCEL QUERY Cancel a running SQL query.
SHOW QUERIES List details about current active SQL queries.

Query planning statements

Statement Usage
CREATE STATISTICS Create table statistics for the cost-based optimizer to use.
EXPLAIN View debugging and analysis details for a statement that operates over tabular data.
EXPLAIN ANALYZE Execute the query and generate a physical query plan with execution statistics.
SHOW STATISTICS List table statistics used by the cost-based optimizer.

Job management statements

Jobs in CockroachDB represent tasks that might not complete immediately, such as schema changes or enterprise backups or restores.

Statement Usage
CANCEL JOB Cancel a BACKUP, RESTORE, IMPORT, or CHANGEFEED job.
PAUSE JOB Pause a BACKUP, RESTORE, IMPORT, or CHANGEFEED job.
RESUME JOB Resume a paused BACKUP, RESTORE, IMPORT, or CHANGEFEED job.
SHOW JOBS View information on jobs.

Backup and restore statements (Enterprise)

The following statements require an enterprise license.

Note:

For non-enterprise users, see Back up Data and Restore Data.

Statement Usage
BACKUP Create disaster recovery backups of databases and tables.
RESTORE Restore databases and tables using your backups.
SHOW BACKUP List the contents of a backup.

Changefeed statements (Enterprise)

Change data capture (CDC) provides an enterprise and core version of row-level change subscriptions for downstream processing.

Statement Usage
CREATE CHANGEFEED (Enterprise) Create a new changefeed to stream row-level changes in a configurable format to a configurable sink (Kafka or a cloud storage sink).
EXPERIMENTAL CHANGEFEED FOR (Core) Create a new changefeed to stream row-level changes to the client indefinitely until the underlying connection is closed or the changefeed is canceled.

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