SQL language reference

This is a SQL command reference for Databricks SQL and Databricks Runtime.

For information about using SQL with Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines, see Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines SQL language reference.

General reference

This general reference describes data types, functions, identifiers, literals, and semantics:

DDL statements

You use data definition statements to create or modify the structure of database objects in a database:

DML statements

You use data manipulation statements to add, change, or delete data from a Delta Lake table:

Data retrieval statements

You use a query to retrieve rows from one or more tables according to the specified clauses. The full syntax and brief description of supported clauses are explained in the Query article. The related SQL statements SELECT and VALUES are also included in this section.

In addition to standard SQL queries in the style of SELECT FROM WHERE, Databricks also supports SQL Pipeline Syntax which composes SQL as a series of chained operations such as FROM |> WHERE |> SELECT.

Databricks SQL also provides the ability to inspect the generated logical and physical plan for a query using the EXPLAIN statement.

EXPLAIN

Delta Lake statements

You use Delta Lake SQL statements to manage tables stored in Delta Lake format:

For details on using Delta Lake statements, see What is Delta Lake in Databricks?.

SQL scripting statements

You use SQL scripting to execute procedural logic in SQL.

Auxiliary statements

You use auxiliary statements to collect statistics, manage caching, explore metadata, set configurations, and manage resources:

Analyze statement
Apache Spark Cache statements
Describe statements
Show statements
Configuration, variable management, and misc statements
Resource management

Analyze statement

ANALYZE TABLE

Apache Spark Cache statements

Applies to: Databricks Runtime

Describe statements

Show statements

Configuration, variable management, and misc statements

Resource management

Applies to: Databricks Runtime

Applies to: Databricks SQL Connector

Security statements

You use security SQL statements to manage access to data:

For details about using these statements, see Hive metastore privileges and securable objects (legacy).

General reference​

DDL statements​

DML statements​

Data retrieval statements​

Delta Lake statements​

SQL scripting statements​

Auxiliary statements​

Analyze statement​

Apache Spark Cache statements​

Describe statements​

Show statements​

Configuration, variable management, and misc statements​

Resource management​

Security statements​