doc/book/en/annexes/rql/language.rst
author Sylvain Thénault <sylvain.thenault@logilab.fr>
Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:49:13 +0200
branch3.5
changeset 3276 4480887772a3
parent 2175 16d3c37c5d28
child 3686 d44b17016944
permissions -rw-r--r--
[selectors] score_entity selector now ensures an int score is returned

.. -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

.. _RQL:

RQL syntax
----------

Reserved keywords
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The keywords are not case sensitive.

::

     DISTINCT, INSERT, SET, DELETE,
     WHERE, AND, OR, NOT, EXISTS,
     IN, LIKE, UNION, WITH, BEING,
     TRUE, FALSE, NULL, TODAY, NOW,
     LIMIT, OFFSET,
     HAVING, GROUPBY, ORDERBY, ASC, DESC


Variables and Typing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With RQL, we do not distinguish between entities and attributes. The
value of an attribute is considered an entity of a particular type (see
below), linked to one (real) entity by a relation called the name of
the attribute.

Entities and values to browse and/or select are represented in
the query by *variables* that must be written in capital letters.

There is a special type **Any**, referring to a non specific type.

We can restrict the possible types for a variable using the
special relation **is**.
The possible type(s) for each variable is derived from the schema
according to the constraints expressed above and thanks to the relations between
each variable.

Built-in types
``````````````

The base types supported are string (between double or single quotes),
integers or floats (the separator is '.'), dates and
boolean. We expect to receive a schema in which types String,
Int, Float, Date and Boolean are defined.

* `String` (literal: between double or single quotes).
* `Int`, `Float` (separator being'.').
* `Date`, `Datetime`, `Time` (literal: string YYYY/MM/DD [hh:mm] or keywords
  `TODAY` and `NOW`).
* `Boolean` (keywords `TRUE` and `FALSE`).
* `Keyword` NULL.


Operators
~~~~~~~~~

Logical Operators
`````````````````
::

     AND, OR, NOT, ','

  ',' is equivalent to 'AND' but with the smallest among the priority
  of logical operators (see :ref:`PriorityOperators`).

Mathematical Operators
```````````````````````
::

     +, -, *, /

Comparison operators
````````````````````
::

     =, <, <=, >=, >, ~=, IN, LIKE

* The operator `=` is the default operator.

* The operator `LIKE` equivalent to `~=` can be used with the
  special character `%` in a string to indicate that the chain
  must start or finish by a prefix/suffix:
  ::

     Any X WHERE X name ~= 'Th%'
     Any X WHERE X name LIKE '%lt'

* The operator `IN` provides a list of possible values:
  ::

    Any X WHERE X name IN ( 'chauvat', 'fayolle', 'di mascio', 'thenault')


XXX nico: "A trick <> 'bar'" wouldn't it be more convenient than
"NOT A trick 'bar'" ?

.. _PriorityOperators:

Operators priority
``````````````````

1. '*', '/'

2. '+', '-'

3. 'not'

4 'and'

5 'or'

6 ','


Search Query
~~~~~~~~~~~~

   [ `DISTINCT`] <entity type> V1 (, V2) \ *
   [ `GROUPBY` V1 (V2) \*] [ `ORDERBY` <orderterms>]
   [ `LIMIT` <value>] [ `OFFSET` <value>]
   [ `WHERE` <restriction>]
   [ `WITH` V1 (, V2) \ * BEING (<query>)]
   [ `HAVING` <restriction>]
   [ `UNION` <query>]

:entity type:
   Type of selected variables.
   The special type `Any` is equivalent to not specify a type.
:restriction:
   list of conditions to test successively
     `V1 relation V2 | <static value>`
:orderterms:
   Definition of the selection order: variable or column number followed by
   sorting method ( `ASC`, `DESC`), ASC is the default.
:note for grouped queries:
   For grouped queries (e.g., a clause `GROUPBY`), all
   selected variables must be aggregated or grouped.


Sorting and groups
``````````````````

- For grouped queries (e.g. with a GROUPBY clause), all
  selected variables should be grouped.

- To group and/or sort by attributes, we can do: "X,L user U, U
  login L GROUPBY L, X ORDERBY L"

- If the sorting method (SORT_METHOD) is not specified, then the sorting is
  ascendant.

- Aggregate Functions: COUNT, MIN, MAX, AVG, SUM


Negation
````````

* A query such as `Document X WHERE NOT X owned_by U` means "the
  documents have no relation `owned_by`".
* But the query `Document X WHERE NOT X owned_by U, U login "syt"`
  means "the documents have no relation `owned_by` with the user
  syt". They may have a relation "owned_by" with another user.

Identity
````````

You can use the special relation `identity` in a query to
add an identity constraint between two variables. This is equivalent
to ``is`` in python::

   Any A WHERE A comments B, A identity B

return all objects that comment themselves. The relation
`identity` is especially useful when defining the rules for securities
with `RQLExpressions`.


Limit / offset
``````````````
::

    Any P ORDERBY N LIMIT 5 OFFSET 10 WHERE P is Person, P firstname N

Function calls
``````````````
::

    Any UPPER(N) WHERE P firstname N

Functions on string: UPPER, LOWER

Exists
``````
::

    Any X ORDERBY PN,N
    WHERE X num N, X version_of P, P name PN,
          EXISTS(X in_state S, S name IN ("dev", "ready"))
          OR EXISTS(T tags X, T name "priority")


Optional relations (Left outer join)
````````````````````````````````````

* They allow you to select entities related or not to another.

* You must use the `?` behind the variable to specify that the relation
  toward it is optional:

   - Anomalies of a project attached or not to a version ::

       Any X, V WHERE X concerns P, P eid 42, X corrected_in V?

   - All cards and the project they document if necessary ::

       Any C, P WHERE C is Card, P? documented_by C

    Any T,P,V WHERE T is Ticket, T concerns P, T done_in V?


Having
``````
::

    Any X GROUPBY X WHERE X knows Y HAVING COUNT(Y) > 10

Subqueries
``````````
::

    (Any X WHERE X is Person) UNION (Any X WHERE X is Company)


     DISTINCT Any W, REF
        WITH W, REF BEING
            (
	      (Any W, REF WHERE W is Workcase, W ref REF,
                                 W concerned_by D, D name "Logilab")
               UNION
              (Any W, REF WHERE W is Workcase, W ref REF, '
                                W split_into WP, WP name "WP1")
            )


Examples
````````

- *Search for the object of identifier 53*
  ::

        Any WHERE X
        X eid 53

- *Search material such as comics, owned by syt and available*
  ::

        Any X WHERE X is Document
        X occurence_of F, F class C, C name 'Comics'
        X owned_by U, U login 'syt'
        X available TRUE

- *Looking for people working for eurocopter interested in training*
  ::

        Any P WHERE
        P is Person, P work_for S, S name 'Eurocopter'
        P interested_by T, T name 'training'

- *Search note less than 10 days old written by jphc or ocy*
  ::

        Any N WHERE
        N is Note, N written_on D, D day> (today -10),
        N written_by P, P name 'jphc' or P name 'ocy'

- *Looking for people interested in training or living in Paris*
  ::

        Any P WHERE
        P is Person, (P interested_by T, T name 'training') OR
        (P city 'Paris')

- *The name and surname of all people*
  ::

        Any N, P WHERE
        X is Person, X name N, X first_name P

  Note that the selection of several entities generally force
  the use of "Any" because the type specification applies otherwise
  to all the selected variables. We could write here
  ::

        String N, P WHERE
        X is Person, X name N, X first_name P


  Note: You can not specify several types with * ... where X is FirstType or X is SecondType*.
  To specify several types explicitly, you have to do

  ::

        Any X where X is in (FirstType, SecondType)


Insertion query
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    `INSERT` <entity type> V1 (, <entity type> V2) \ * `:` <assignments>
    [ `WHERE` <restriction>]

:assignments:
   list of relations to assign in the form `V1 relationship V2 | <static value>`

The restriction can define variables used in assignments.

Caution, if a restriction is specified, the insertion is done for
*each line result returned by the restriction*.

- *Insert a new person named 'foo'*
  ::

        INSERT Person X: X name 'foo'

- *Insert a new person named 'foo', another called 'nice' and a 'friend' relation
  between them*
  ::

        INSERT Person X, Person Y: X name 'foo', Y name 'nice', X friend Y

- *Insert a new person named 'foo' and a 'friend' relation with an existing
  person called 'nice'*
  ::

        INSERT Person X: X name 'foo', X friend  Y WHERE name 'nice'

Update and relation creation queries
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    `SET` <assignements>
    [ `WHERE` <restriction>]

Caution, if a restriction is specified, the update is done *for
each result line returned by the restriction*.

- *Renaming of the person named 'foo' to 'bar' with the first name changed*
  ::

        SET X name 'bar', X first_name 'original' WHERE X is Person, X name 'foo'

- *Insert a relation of type 'know' between objects linked by
  the relation of type 'friend'*
  ::

        SET X know Y  WHERE X friend Y


Deletion query
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    `DELETE` (<entity type> V) | (V1 relation v2 ),...
    [ `WHERE` <restriction>]

Caution, if a restriction is specified, the deletion is made *for
each line result returned by the restriction*.

- *Deletion of the person named 'foo'*
  ::

        DELETE Person X WHERE X name 'foo'

- *Removal of all relations of type 'friend' from the person named 'foo'*
  ::

        DELETE X friend Y WHERE X is Person, X name 'foo'