Lexical syntax

Identifiers

Unquoted identifiers are case-insensitive. Quote an identifier with double quotes when it contains punctuation, conflicts with a keyword, or must preserve its spelling:

CREATE TABLE "minute-bars" (
  "open" Float64,
  market String,
  PRIMARY KEY (market)
) SETTINGS mode = 'keyed', storage_policy = 'memory_data';

String values use single quotes. Escape a single quote by doubling it:

SELECT 'operator''s console' AS label;

Literals

NYXDB accepts integer, decimal, floating-point, string, Boolean, NULL, array, tuple, map, date/time, UUID, IP, JSON, and vector-compatible literals where the target type permits them. Cast ambiguous values explicitly:

SELECT
  cast('2026-07-09', 'Date') AS day,
  cast('42', 'UInt64') AS value;

Interval literals are used by windows and emission policies:

INTERVAL 5 SECOND
INTERVAL 250 MILLISECOND
INTERVAL 1 MINUTE

Comments

Use -- for a line comment and /* ... */ for a block comment:

-- current state for one account
SELECT * FROM balances WHERE address = 'alice';

Parameters

Prepared statements support positional placeholders:

SELECT market, amount
FROM trades
WHERE market = $1 AND amount >= $2
LIMIT $3;

The anonymous ? form is also accepted by compatible clients. Bind values through the driver; never construct SQL by concatenating untrusted text.

Parameterized views declare typed parameters and are invoked by position or name:

CREATE VIEW account_balance AS
SELECT address, balance
FROM balances
WHERE address = ${address:String};

SELECT * FROM account_balance(address => 'alice');

Named parameters are supported for parameterized-view invocation. Named parameters are not accepted in LIMIT or OFFSET.

Statement boundary

Each protocol request carries one SQL statement. The following transaction statements are rejected by the current engine:

BEGIN;
START TRANSACTION;
COMMIT;
ROLLBACK;
SAVEPOINT checkpoint_1;

Design atomicity around a single statement and the durability policy of the target table. See Transactions.