Operators in GoogleSQL

GoogleSQL for Spanner supports operators. Operators are represented by special characters or keywords; they do not use function call syntax. An operator manipulates any number of data inputs, also called operands, and returns a result.

Common conventions:

  • Unless otherwise specified, all operators return NULL when one of the operands is NULL.
  • All operators will throw an error if the computation result overflows.
  • For all floating point operations, +/-inf and NaN may only be returned if one of the operands is +/-inf or NaN. In other cases, an error is returned.

Operator precedence

The following table lists all GoogleSQL operators from highest to lowest precedence, i.e., the order in which they will be evaluated within a statement.

Order of Precedence Operator Input Data Types Name Operator Arity
1 Field access operator STRUCT
JSON
Field access operator Binary
  Array subscript operator ARRAY Array position. Must be used with OFFSET or ORDINAL—see Array Functions . Binary
  JSON subscript operator JSON Field name or array position in JSON. Binary
2 + All numeric types Unary plus Unary
  - All numeric types Unary minus Unary
  ~ Integer or BYTES Bitwise not Unary
3 * All numeric types Multiplication Binary
  / All numeric types Division Binary
  || STRING, BYTES, or ARRAY<T> Concatenation operator Binary
4 + All numeric types Addition Binary
  - All numeric types Subtraction Binary
5 << Integer or BYTES Bitwise left-shift Binary
  >> Integer or BYTES Bitwise right-shift Binary
6 & Integer or BYTES Bitwise and Binary
7 ^ Integer or BYTES Bitwise xor Binary
8 | Integer or BYTES Bitwise or Binary
9 (Comparison Operators) = Any comparable type. See Data Types for a complete list. Equal Binary
  < Any comparable type. See Data Types for a complete list. Less than Binary
  > Any comparable type. See Data Types for a complete list. Greater than Binary
  <= Any comparable type. See Data Types for a complete list. Less than or equal to Binary
  >= Any comparable type. See Data Types for a complete list. Greater than or equal to Binary
  !=, <> Any comparable type. See Data Types for a complete list. Not equal Binary
  [NOT] LIKE STRING and BYTES Value does [not] match the pattern specified Binary
  [NOT] BETWEEN Any comparable types. See Data Types for a complete list. Value is [not] within the range specified Binary
  [NOT] IN Any comparable types. See Data Types for a complete list. Value is [not] in the set of values specified Binary
  IS [NOT] NULL All Value is [not] NULL Unary
  IS [NOT] TRUE BOOL Value is [not] TRUE. Unary
  IS [NOT] FALSE BOOL Value is [not] FALSE. Unary
10 NOT BOOL Logical NOT Unary
11 AND BOOL Logical AND Binary
12 OR BOOL Logical OR Binary

Operators with the same precedence are left associative. This means that those operators are grouped together starting from the left and moving right. For example, the expression:

x AND y AND z

is interpreted as

( ( x AND y ) AND z )

The expression:

x * y / z

is interpreted as:

( ( x * y ) / z )

All comparison operators have the same priority, but comparison operators are not associative. Therefore, parentheses are required in order to resolve ambiguity. For example:

(x < y) IS FALSE

Field access operator

expression.fieldname[. ...]

Description

Gets the value of a field. Alternatively known as the dot operator. Can be used to access nested fields. For example, expression.fieldname1.fieldname2.

Input values:

  • STRUCT
  • JSON

Return type

  • For STRUCT: SQL data type of fieldname. If a field is not found in the struct, an error is thrown.
  • For JSON: JSON. If a field is not found in a JSON value, a SQL NULL is returned.

Example

In the following example, the expression is t.customer and the field access operations are .address and .country. An operation is an application of an operator (.) to specific operands (in this case, address and country, or more specifically, t.customer and address, for the first operation, and t.customer.address and country for the second operation).

WITH orders AS (
  SELECT STRUCT(STRUCT('Yonge Street' AS street, 'Canada' AS country) AS address) AS customer
)
SELECT t.customer.address.country FROM orders AS t;

/*---------*
 | country |
 +---------+
 | Canada  |
 *---------*/

Array subscript operator

array_expression[array_subscript_specifier]

array_subscript_specifier:
  position_keyword(index)

position_keyword:
  { OFFSET | SAFE_OFFSET | ORDINAL | SAFE_ORDINAL }

Description

Gets a value from an array at a specific position.

Input values:

  • array_expression: The input array.
  • position_keyword(index): Determines where the index for the array should start and how out-of-range indexes are handled. The index is an integer that represents a specific position in the array.
    • OFFSET(index): The index starts at zero. Produces an error if the index is out of range. To produce NULL instead of an error, use SAFE_OFFSET(index).
    • SAFE_OFFSET(index): The index starts at zero. Returns NULL if the index is out of range.
    • ORDINAL(index): The index starts at one. Produces an error if the index is out of range. To produce NULL instead of an error, use SAFE_ORDINAL(index).
    • SAFE_ORDINAL(index): The index starts at one. Returns NULL if the index is out of range.

Return type

T where array_expression is ARRAY<T>.

Examples

In following query, the array subscript operator is used to return values at specific position in item_array. This query also shows what happens when you reference an index (6) in an array that is out of range. If the SAFE prefix is included, NULL is returned, otherwise an error is produced.

WITH Items AS (SELECT ["coffee", "tea", "milk"] AS item_array)
SELECT
  item_array,
  item_array[OFFSET(0)] AS item_offset,
  item_array[ORDINAL(1)] AS item_ordinal,
  item_array[SAFE_OFFSET(6)] AS item_safe_offset
FROM Items

/*---------------------+-------------+--------------+------------------*
 | item_array          | item_offset | item_ordinal | item_safe_offset |
 +---------------------+-------------+--------------+------------------+
 | [coffee, tea, milk] | coffee      | coffee       | NULL             |
 *---------------------+-------------+--------------+------------------*/

When you reference an index that is out of range in an array, and a positional keyword that begins with SAFE is not included, an error is produced. For example:

WITH Items AS (SELECT ["coffee", "tea", "milk"] AS item_array)
SELECT
  item_array[OFFSET(6)] AS item_offset
FROM Items

-- Error. Array index 6 is out of bounds.

JSON subscript operator

json_expression[array_element_id]
json_expression[field_name]

Description

Gets a value of an array element or field in a JSON expression. Can be used to access nested data.

Input values:

  • JSON expression: The JSON expression that contains an array element or field to return.
  • [array_element_id]: An INT64 expression that represents a zero-based index in the array. If a negative value is entered, or the value is greater than or equal to the size of the array, or the JSON expression doesn't represent a JSON array, a SQL NULL is returned.
  • [field_name]: A STRING expression that represents the name of a field in JSON. If the field name is not found, or the JSON expression is not a JSON object, a SQL NULL is returned.

Return type

JSON

Example

In the following example:

  • json_value is a JSON expression.
  • .class is a JSON field access.
  • .students is a JSON field access.
  • [0] is a JSON subscript expression with an element offset that accesses the zeroth element of an array in the JSON value.
  • ['name'] is a JSON subscript expression with a field name that accesses a field.
SELECT json_value.class.students[0]['name'] AS first_student
FROM
  UNNEST(
    [
      JSON '{"class" : {"students" : [{"name" : "Jane"}]}}',
      JSON '{"class" : {"students" : []}}',
      JSON '{"class" : {"students" : [{"name" : "John"}, {"name": "Jamie"}]}}'])
    AS json_value;

/*-----------------*
 | first_student   |
 +-----------------+
 | "Jane"          |
 | NULL            |
 | "John"          |
 *-----------------*/

Arithmetic operators

All arithmetic operators accept input of numeric type T, and the result type has type T unless otherwise indicated in the description below:

Name Syntax
Addition X + Y
Subtraction X - Y
Multiplication X * Y
Division X / Y
Unary Plus + X
Unary Minus - X

NOTE: Divide by zero operations return an error. To return a different result, consider the IEEE_DIVIDE or SAFE_DIVIDE functions.

Result types for Addition, Subtraction and Multiplication:

INPUTINT64NUMERICFLOAT64
INT64INT64NUMERICFLOAT64
NUMERICNUMERICNUMERICFLOAT64
FLOAT64FLOAT64FLOAT64FLOAT64

Result types for Division:

INPUTINT64NUMERICFLOAT64
INT64FLOAT64NUMERICFLOAT64
NUMERICNUMERICNUMERICFLOAT64
FLOAT64FLOAT64FLOAT64FLOAT64

Result types for Unary Plus:

INPUTINT64NUMERICFLOAT64
OUTPUTINT64NUMERICFLOAT64

Result types for Unary Minus:

INPUTINT64NUMERICFLOAT64
OUTPUTINT64NUMERICFLOAT64

Bitwise operators

All bitwise operators return the same type and the same length as the first operand.

Name Syntax Input Data Type Description
Bitwise not ~ X Integer or BYTES Performs logical negation on each bit, forming the ones' complement of the given binary value.
Bitwise or X | Y X: Integer or BYTES
Y: Same type as X
Takes two bit patterns of equal length and performs the logical inclusive OR operation on each pair of the corresponding bits. This operator throws an error if X and Y are bytes of different lengths.
Bitwise xor X ^ Y X: Integer or BYTES
Y: Same type as X
Takes two bit patterns of equal length and performs the logical exclusive OR operation on each pair of the corresponding bits. This operator throws an error if X and Y are bytes of different lengths.
Bitwise and X & Y X: Integer or BYTES
Y: Same type as X
Takes two bit patterns of equal length and performs the logical AND operation on each pair of the corresponding bits. This operator throws an error if X and Y are bytes of different lengths.
Left shift X << Y X: Integer or BYTES
Y: INT64
Shifts the first operand X to the left. This operator returns 0 or a byte sequence of b'\x00' if the second operand Y is greater than or equal to the bit length of the first operand X (for example, 64 if X has the type INT64). This operator throws an error if Y is negative.
Right shift X >> Y X: Integer or BYTES
Y: INT64
Shifts the first operand X to the right. This operator does not do sign bit extension with a signed type (i.e., it fills vacant bits on the left with 0). This operator returns 0 or a byte sequence of b'\x00' if the second operand Y is greater than or equal to the bit length of the first operand X (for example, 64 if X has the type INT64). This operator throws an error if Y is negative.

Logical operators

GoogleSQL supports the AND, OR, and NOT logical operators. Logical operators allow only BOOL or NULL input and use three-valued logic to produce a result. The result can be TRUE, FALSE, or NULL:

x y x AND y x OR y
TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE FALSE FALSE TRUE
TRUE NULL NULL TRUE
FALSE TRUE FALSE TRUE
FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE NULL FALSE NULL
NULL TRUE NULL TRUE
NULL FALSE FALSE NULL
NULL NULL NULL NULL
x NOT x
TRUE FALSE
FALSE TRUE
NULL NULL

Examples

The examples in this section reference a table called entry_table:

/*-------*
 | entry |
 +-------+
 | a     |
 | b     |
 | c     |
 | NULL  |
 *-------*/
SELECT 'a' FROM entry_table WHERE entry = 'a'

-- a => 'a' = 'a' => TRUE
-- b => 'b' = 'a' => FALSE
-- NULL => NULL = 'a' => NULL

/*-------*
 | entry |
 +-------+
 | a     |
 *-------*/
SELECT entry FROM entry_table WHERE NOT (entry = 'a')

-- a => NOT('a' = 'a') => NOT(TRUE) => FALSE
-- b => NOT('b' = 'a') => NOT(FALSE) => TRUE
-- NULL => NOT(NULL = 'a') => NOT(NULL) => NULL

/*-------*
 | entry |
 +-------+
 | b     |
 | c     |
 *-------*/
SELECT entry FROM entry_table WHERE entry IS NULL

-- a => 'a' IS NULL => FALSE
-- b => 'b' IS NULL => FALSE
-- NULL => NULL IS NULL => TRUE

/*-------*
 | entry |
 +-------+
 | NULL  |
 *-------*/

Comparison operators

Compares operands and produces the results of the comparison as a BOOL value. These comparison operators are available:

Name Syntax Description
Less Than X < Y Returns TRUE if X is less than Y.
Less Than or Equal To X <= Y Returns TRUE if X is less than or equal to Y.
Greater Than X > Y Returns TRUE if X is greater than Y.
Greater Than or Equal To X >= Y Returns TRUE if X is greater than or equal to Y.
Equal X = Y Returns TRUE if X is equal to Y.
Not Equal X != Y
X <> Y
Returns TRUE if X is not equal to Y.
BETWEEN X [NOT] BETWEEN Y AND Z

Returns TRUE if X is [not] within the range specified. The result of X BETWEEN Y AND Z is equivalent to Y <= X AND X <= Z but X is evaluated only once in the former.

LIKE X [NOT] LIKE Y See the `LIKE` operator for details.
IN Multiple See the `IN` operator for details.

The following rules apply to operands in a comparison operator:

  • The operands must be comparable.
  • A comparison operator generally requires both operands to be of the same type.
  • If the operands are of different types, and the values of those types can be converted to a common type without loss of precision, they are generally coerced to that common type for the comparison.
  • A literal operand is generally coerced to the same data type of a non-literal operand that is part of the comparison.
  • Struct operands support only these comparison operators: equal (=), not equal (!= and <>), and IN.

The following rules apply when comparing these data types:

  • FLOAT64: All comparisons with NaN return FALSE, except for != and <>, which return TRUE.
  • BOOL: FALSE is less than TRUE.
  • STRING: Strings are compared codepoint-by-codepoint, which means that canonically equivalent strings are only guaranteed to compare as equal if they have been normalized first.
  • JSON: You can't compare JSON, but you can compare the values inside of JSON if you convert the values to SQL values first. For more information, see JSON functions.
  • NULL: Any operation with a NULL input returns NULL.
  • STRUCT: When testing a struct for equality, it's possible that one or more fields are NULL. In such cases:

    • If all non-NULL field values are equal, the comparison returns NULL.
    • If any non-NULL field values are not equal, the comparison returns FALSE.

    The following table demonstrates how STRUCT data types are compared when they have fields that are NULL valued.

    Struct1 Struct2 Struct1 = Struct2
    STRUCT(1, NULL) STRUCT(1, NULL) NULL
    STRUCT(1, NULL) STRUCT(2, NULL) FALSE
    STRUCT(1,2) STRUCT(1, NULL) NULL

EXISTS operator

EXISTS ( subquery )

Description

Returns TRUE if the subquery produces one or more rows. Returns FALSE if the subquery produces zero rows. Never returns NULL. To learn more about how you can use a subquery with EXISTS, see EXISTS subqueries.

Examples

In this example, the EXISTS operator returns FALSE because there are no rows in Words where the direction is south:

WITH Words AS (
  SELECT 'Intend' as value, 'east' as direction UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Secure', 'north' UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Clarity', 'west'
 )
SELECT EXISTS ( SELECT value FROM Words WHERE direction = 'south' ) as result;

/*--------*
 | result |
 +--------+
 | FALSE  |
 *--------*/

IN operator

The IN operator supports the following syntax:

search_value [NOT] IN value_set

value_set:
  {
    (expression[, ...])
    | (subquery)
    | UNNEST(array_expression)
  }

Description

Checks for an equal value in a set of values. Semantic rules apply, but in general, IN returns TRUE if an equal value is found, FALSE if an equal value is excluded, otherwise NULL. NOT IN returns FALSE if an equal value is found, TRUE if an equal value is excluded, otherwise NULL.

  • search_value: The expression that is compared to a set of values.
  • value_set: One or more values to compare to a search value.

    • (expression[, ...]): A list of expressions.
    • (subquery): A subquery that returns a single column. The values in that column are the set of values. If no rows are produced, the set of values is empty.
    • UNNEST(array_expression): An UNNEST operator that returns a column of values from an array expression. This is equivalent to:

      IN (SELECT element FROM UNNEST(array_expression) AS element)
      

This operator generally supports collation, however, [NOT] IN UNNEST does not support collation.

Semantic rules

When using the IN operator, the following semantics apply in this order:

  • Returns FALSE if value_set is empty.
  • Returns NULL if search_value is NULL.
  • Returns TRUE if value_set contains a value equal to search_value.
  • Returns NULL if value_set contains a NULL.
  • Returns FALSE.

When using the NOT IN operator, the following semantics apply in this order:

  • Returns TRUE if value_set is empty.
  • Returns NULL if search_value is NULL.
  • Returns FALSE if value_set contains a value equal to search_value.
  • Returns NULL if value_set contains a NULL.
  • Returns TRUE.

The semantics of:

x IN (y, z, ...)

are defined as equivalent to:

(x = y) OR (x = z) OR ...

and the subquery and array forms are defined similarly.

x NOT IN ...

is equivalent to:

NOT(x IN ...)

The UNNEST form treats an array scan like UNNEST in the FROM clause:

x [NOT] IN UNNEST(<array expression>)

This form is often used with array parameters. For example:

x IN UNNEST(@array_parameter)

See the Arrays topic for more information on how to use this syntax.

IN can be used with multi-part keys by using the struct constructor syntax. For example:

(Key1, Key2) IN ( (12,34), (56,78) )
(Key1, Key2) IN ( SELECT (table.a, table.b) FROM table )

See the Struct Type topic for more information.

Return Data Type

BOOL

Examples

You can use these WITH clauses to emulate temporary tables for Words and Items in the following examples:

WITH Words AS (
  SELECT 'Intend' as value UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Secure' UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Clarity' UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Peace' UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Intend'
 )
SELECT * FROM Words;

/*----------*
 | value    |
 +----------+
 | Intend   |
 | Secure   |
 | Clarity  |
 | Peace    |
 | Intend   |
 *----------*/
WITH
  Items AS (
    SELECT STRUCT('blue' AS color, 'round' AS shape) AS info UNION ALL
    SELECT STRUCT('blue', 'square') UNION ALL
    SELECT STRUCT('red', 'round')
  )
SELECT * FROM Items;

/*----------------------------*
 | info                       |
 +----------------------------+
 | {blue color, round shape}  |
 | {blue color, square shape} |
 | {red color, round shape}   |
 *----------------------------*/

Example with IN and an expression:

SELECT * FROM Words WHERE value IN ('Intend', 'Secure');

/*----------*
 | value    |
 +----------+
 | Intend   |
 | Secure   |
 | Intend   |
 *----------*/

Example with NOT IN and an expression:

SELECT * FROM Words WHERE value NOT IN ('Intend');

/*----------*
 | value    |
 +----------+
 | Secure   |
 | Clarity  |
 | Peace    |
 *----------*/

Example with IN, a scalar subquery, and an expression:

SELECT * FROM Words WHERE value IN ((SELECT 'Intend'), 'Clarity');

/*----------*
 | value    |
 +----------+
 | Intend   |
 | Clarity  |
 | Intend   |
 *----------*/

Example with IN and an UNNEST operation:

SELECT * FROM Words WHERE value IN UNNEST(['Secure', 'Clarity']);

/*----------*
 | value    |
 +----------+
 | Secure   |
 | Clarity  |
 *----------*/

Example with IN and a struct:

SELECT
  (SELECT AS STRUCT Items.info) as item
FROM
  Items
WHERE (info.shape, info.color) IN (('round', 'blue'));

/*------------------------------------*
 | item                               |
 +------------------------------------+
 | { {blue color, round shape} info } |
 *------------------------------------*/

IS operators

IS operators return TRUE or FALSE for the condition they are testing. They never return NULL, even for NULL inputs, unlike the IS_INF and IS_NAN functions defined in Mathematical Functions. If NOT is present, the output BOOL value is inverted.

Function Syntax Input Data Type Result Data Type Description
X IS TRUE BOOL BOOL Evaluates to TRUE if X evaluates to TRUE. Otherwise, evaluates to FALSE.
X IS NOT TRUE BOOL BOOL Evaluates to FALSE if X evaluates to TRUE. Otherwise, evaluates to TRUE.
X IS FALSE BOOL BOOL Evaluates to TRUE if X evaluates to FALSE. Otherwise, evaluates to FALSE.
X IS NOT FALSE BOOL BOOL Evaluates to FALSE if X evaluates to FALSE. Otherwise, evaluates to TRUE.
X IS NULL Any value type BOOL Evaluates to TRUE if X evaluates to NULL. Otherwise evaluates to FALSE.
X IS NOT NULL Any value type BOOL Evaluates to FALSE if X evaluates to NULL. Otherwise evaluates to TRUE.
X IS UNKNOWN BOOL BOOL Evaluates to TRUE if X evaluates to NULL. Otherwise evaluates to FALSE.
X IS NOT UNKNOWN BOOL BOOL Evaluates to FALSE if X evaluates to NULL. Otherwise, evaluates to TRUE.

LIKE operator

expression_1 [NOT] LIKE expression_2

Description

LIKE returns TRUE if the string in the first operand expression_1 matches a pattern specified by the second operand expression_2, otherwise returns FALSE.

NOT LIKE returns TRUE if the string in the first operand expression_1 does not match a pattern specified by the second operand expression_2, otherwise returns FALSE.

Expressions can contain these characters:

  • A percent sign (%) matches any number of characters or bytes.
  • An underscore (_) matches a single character or byte.
  • You can escape \, _, or % using two backslashes. For example, \\%. If you are using raw strings, only a single backslash is required. For example, r'\%'.

Return type

BOOL

Examples

The following examples illustrate how you can check to see if the string in the first operand matches a pattern specified by the second operand.

-- Returns TRUE
SELECT 'apple' LIKE 'a%';
-- Returns FALSE
SELECT '%a' LIKE 'apple';
-- Returns FALSE
SELECT 'apple' NOT LIKE 'a%';
-- Returns TRUE
SELECT '%a' NOT LIKE 'apple';
-- Produces an error
SELECT NULL LIKE 'a%';
-- Produces an error
SELECT 'apple' LIKE NULL;

The following example illustrates how to search multiple patterns in an array to find a match with the LIKE operator:

WITH Words AS
 (SELECT 'Intend with clarity.' as value UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Secure with intention.' UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Clarity and security.')
SELECT value
FROM Words
WHERE ARRAY_INCLUDES(['%ity%', '%and%'], pattern->(Words.value LIKE pattern));

/*------------------------+
 | value                  |
 +------------------------+
 | Intend with clarity.   |
 | Clarity and security.  |
 +------------------------*/

Concatenation operator

The concatenation operator combines multiple values into one.

Function Syntax Input Data Type Result Data Type
STRING || STRING [ || ... ] STRING STRING
BYTES || BYTES [ || ... ] BYTES BYTES
ARRAY<T> || ARRAY<T> [ || ... ] ARRAY<T> ARRAY<T>

WITH expression

WITH(variable_assignment[, ...], result_expression)

variable_assignment:
  variable_name AS expression

Description

Create one or more variables. Each variable can be used in subsequent expressions within the WITH expression. Returns the value of result_expression.

  • variable_assignment: Introduces a variable. The variable name must be unique within a given WITH expression. Each expression can reference the variables that come before it. For example, if you create variable a, then follow it with variable b, you can reference a inside of b's expression.

    • variable_name: The name of the variable.

    • expression: The value to assign to the variable.

  • result_expression: An expression that is the WITH expression's result. result_expression can use all of the variables defined before it.

Return Type

  • The type of the result_expression.

Requirements and Caveats

  • A given variable may only be assigned once in a given WITH clause.
  • Variables created during WITH may not be used in aggregate function arguments. For example, WITH(a AS ..., SUM(a)) produces an error.
  • Volatile expressions behave as if they are evaluated only once.

Examples

The following example first concatenates variable a with b, then variable b with c:

SELECT WITH(a AS '123',               -- a is '123'
            b AS CONCAT(a, '456'),    -- b is '123456'
            c AS '789',               -- c is '789'
            CONCAT(b, c)) AS result;  -- b + c is '123456789'

/*-------------*
 | result      |
 +-------------+
 | '123456789' |
 *-------------*/

Aggregate function results can be stored in variables. In this example, an average is computed:

SELECT WITH(s AS SUM(input), c AS COUNT(input), s/c)
FROM UNNEST([1.0, 2.0, 3.0]) AS input;

/*---------*
 | result  |
 +---------+
 | 2.0     |
 *---------*/

Variables cannot be used in aggregate function call arguments:

SELECT WITH(diff AS a - b, AVG(diff))
FROM UNNEST([
              STRUCT(1 AS a, 2 AS b),
              STRUCT(3 AS a, 4 AS b),
              STRUCT(5 AS a, 6 AS b),
            ]);

-- ERROR: WITH variables like 'diff' cannot be used in aggregate or analytic
-- function arguments.