influxdb/influxql

The Influx Query Language Specification

Introduction

This is a reference for the Influx Query Language ("InfluxQL").

InfluxQL is a SQL-like query language for interacting with InfluxDB. It has been lovingly crafted to feel familiar to those coming from other SQL or SQL-like environments while providing features specific to storing and analyzing time series data.

Notation

The syntax is specified using Extended Backus-Naur Form ("EBNF"). EBNF is the same notation used in the Go programming language specification, which can be found here. Not so coincidentally, InfluxDB is written in Go.

Production  = production_name "=" [ Expression ] "." .
Expression  = Alternative { "|" Alternative } .
Alternative = Term { Term } .
Term        = production_name | token [ "…" token ] | Group | Option | Repetition .
Group       = "(" Expression ")" .
Option      = "[" Expression "]" .
Repetition  = "{" Expression "}" .

Notation operators in order of increasing precedence:

|   alternation
()  grouping
[]  option (0 or 1 times)
{}  repetition (0 to n times)

Query representation

Characters

InfluxQL is Unicode text encoded in UTF-8.

newline             = /* the Unicode code point U+000A */ .
unicode_char        = /* an arbitrary Unicode code point except newline */ .

Letters and digits

Letters are the set of ASCII characters plus the underscore character _ (U+005F) is considered a letter.

Only decimal digits are supported.

letter              = ascii_letter | "_" .
ascii_letter        = "A" … "Z" | "a" … "z" .
digit               = "0" … "9" .

Identifiers

Identifiers are tokens which refer to database names, retention policy names, user names, measurement names, tag keys, and field keys.

The rules:

• double quoted identifiers can contain any unicode character other than a new line
• double quoted identifiers can contain escaped " characters (i.e., \")
• unquoted identifiers must start with an upper or lowercase ASCII character or "_"
• unquoted identifiers may contain only ASCII letters, decimal digits, and "_"

identifier          = unquoted_identifier | quoted_identifier .
unquoted_identifier = ( letter ) { letter | digit } .
quoted_identifier   = `"` unicode_char { unicode_char } `"` .

Examples:

cpu
_cpu_stats
"1h"
"anything really"
"1_Crazy-1337.identifier>NAME👍"

Keywords

ALL           ALTER         ANY           AS            ASC           BEGIN
BY            CREATE        CONTINUOUS    DATABASE      DATABASES     DEFAULT
DELETE        DESC          DESTINATIONS  DIAGNOSTICS   DISTINCT      DROP
DURATION      END           EVERY         EXISTS        EXPLAIN       FIELD
FOR           FORCE         FROM          GRANT         GRANTS        GROUP
GROUPS        IF            IN            INF           INNER         INSERT
INTO          KEY           KEYS          LIMIT         SHOW          MEASUREMENT
MEASUREMENTS  NOT           OFFSET        ON            ORDER         PASSWORD
POLICY        POLICIES      PRIVILEGES    QUERIES       QUERY         READ
REPLICATION   RESAMPLE      RETENTION     REVOKE        SELECT        SERIES
SERVER        SERVERS       SET           SHARD         SHARDS        SLIMIT
SOFFSET       STATS         SUBSCRIPTION  SUBSCRIPTIONS TAG           TO
USER          USERS         VALUES        WHERE         WITH          WRITE

Literals

Integers

InfluxQL supports decimal integer literals. Hexadecimal and octal literals are not currently supported.

int_lit             = ( "1" … "9" ) { digit } .

Floats

InfluxQL supports floating-point literals. Exponents are not currently supported.

float_lit           = int_lit "." int_lit .

Strings

String literals must be surrounded by single quotes. Strings may contain ' characters as long as they are escaped (i.e., \').

string_lit          = `'` { unicode_char } `'` .

Durations

Duration literals specify a length of time. An integer literal followed immediately (with no spaces) by a duration unit listed below is interpreted as a duration literal.

Duration units

Units	Meaning
u or µ	microseconds (1 millionth of a second)
ms	milliseconds (1 thousandth of a second)
s	second
m	minute
h	hour
d	day
w	week

duration_lit        = int_lit duration_unit .
duration_unit       = "u" | "µ" | "s" | "h" | "d" | "w" | "ms" .

Dates & Times

The date and time literal format is not specified in EBNF like the rest of this document. It is specified using Go's date / time parsing format, which is a reference date written in the format required by InfluxQL. The reference date time is:

InfluxQL reference date time: January 2nd, 2006 at 3:04:05 PM

time_lit            = "2006-01-02 15:04:05.999999" | "2006-01-02" .

Booleans

bool_lit            = TRUE | FALSE .

Regular Expressions

regex_lit           = "/" { unicode_char } "/" .

Queries

A query is composed of one or more statements separated by a semicolon.

query               = statement { ";" statement } .

statement           = alter_retention_policy_stmt |
                      create_continuous_query_stmt |
                      create_database_stmt |
                      create_retention_policy_stmt |
                      create_subscription_stmt |
                      create_user_stmt |
                      delete_stmt |
                      drop_continuous_query_stmt |
                      drop_database_stmt |
                      drop_measurement_stmt |
                      drop_retention_policy_stmt |
                      drop_series_stmt |
                      drop_subscription_stmt |
                      drop_user_stmt |
                      grant_stmt |
                      show_continuous_queries_stmt |
                      show_databases_stmt |
                      show_field_keys_stmt |
                      show_grants_stmt |
                      show_measurements_stmt |
                      show_retention_policies |
                      show_series_stmt |
                      show_shard_groups_stmt |
                      show_shards_stmt |
                      show_subscriptions_stmt|
                      show_tag_keys_stmt |
                      show_tag_values_stmt |
                      show_users_stmt |
                      revoke_stmt |
                      select_stmt .

Statements

ALTER RETENTION POLICY

alter_retention_policy_stmt  = "ALTER RETENTION POLICY" policy_name on_clause
                               retention_policy_option
                               [ retention_policy_option ]
                               [ retention_policy_option ] .

Examples:

-- Set default retention policy for mydb to 1h.cpu.
ALTER RETENTION POLICY "1h.cpu" ON mydb DEFAULT;

-- Change duration and replication factor.
ALTER RETENTION POLICY policy1 ON somedb DURATION 1h REPLICATION 4

CREATE CONTINUOUS QUERY

create_continuous_query_stmt = "CREATE CONTINUOUS QUERY" query_name on_clause
                               [ "RESAMPLE" resample_opts ]
                               "BEGIN" select_stmt "END" .

query_name                   = identifier .

resample_opts                = (every_stmt for_stmt | every_stmt | for_stmt) .
every_stmt                   = "EVERY" duration_lit
for_stmt                     = "FOR" duration_lit

Examples:

-- selects from default retention policy and writes into 6_months retention policy
CREATE CONTINUOUS QUERY "10m_event_count"
ON db_name
BEGIN
  SELECT count(value)
  INTO "6_months".events
  FROM events
  GROUP BY time(10m)
END;

-- this selects from the output of one continuous query in one retention policy and outputs to another series in another retention policy
CREATE CONTINUOUS QUERY "1h_event_count"
ON db_name
BEGIN
  SELECT sum(count) as count
  INTO "2_years".events
  FROM "6_months".events
  GROUP BY time(1h)
END;

-- this customizes the resample interval so the interval is queried every 10s and intervals are resampled until 2m after their start time
-- when resample is used, at least one of "EVERY" or "FOR" must be used
CREATE CONTINUOUS QUERY "cpu_mean"
ON db_name
RESAMPLE EVERY 10s FOR 2m
BEGIN
  SELECT mean(value)
  INTO "cpu_mean"
  FROM "cpu"
  GROUP BY time(1m)
END;

CREATE DATABASE

create_database_stmt = "CREATE DATABASE" db_name .

Example:

CREATE DATABASE foo

CREATE RETENTION POLICY

create_retention_policy_stmt = "CREATE RETENTION POLICY" policy_name on_clause
                               retention_policy_duration
                               retention_policy_replication
                               [ "DEFAULT" ] .

Examples

-- Create a retention policy.
CREATE RETENTION POLICY "10m.events" ON somedb DURATION 10m REPLICATION 2;

-- Create a retention policy and set it as the default.
CREATE RETENTION POLICY "10m.events" ON somedb DURATION 10m REPLICATION 2 DEFAULT;

CREATE SUBSCRIPTION

create_subscription_stmt = "CREATE SUBSCRIPTION" subscription_name "ON" db_name "." retention_policy "DESTINATIONS" ("ANY"|"ALL") host { "," host} .

Examples:

-- Create a SUBSCRIPTION on database 'mydb' and retention policy 'default' that send data to 'example.com:9090' via UDP.
CREATE SUBSCRIPTION sub0 ON "mydb"."default" DESTINATIONS ALL 'udp://example.com:9090' ;

-- Create a SUBSCRIPTION on database 'mydb' and retention policy 'default' that round robins the data to 'h1.example.com:9090' and 'h2.example.com:9090'.
CREATE SUBSCRIPTION sub0 ON "mydb"."default" DESTINATIONS ANY 'udp://h1.example.com:9090', 'udp://h2.example.com:9090';

CREATE USER

create_user_stmt = "CREATE USER" user_name "WITH PASSWORD" password
                   [ "WITH ALL PRIVILEGES" ] .

Examples:

-- Create a normal database user.
CREATE USER jdoe WITH PASSWORD '1337password';

-- Create a cluster admin.
-- Note: Unlike the GRANT statement, the "PRIVILEGES" keyword is required here.
CREATE USER jdoe WITH PASSWORD '1337password' WITH ALL PRIVILEGES;

DELETE

delete_stmt  = "DELETE FROM" measurement where_clause .

Example:

-- delete data points from the cpu measurement where the region tag
-- equals 'uswest'
DELETE FROM cpu WHERE region = 'uswest';

DROP CONTINUOUS QUERY

drop_continuous_query_stmt = "DROP CONTINUOUS QUERY" query_name on_clause .

Example:

DROP CONTINUOUS QUERY myquery ON mydb;

DROP DATABASE

drop_database_stmt = "DROP DATABASE" db_name .

Example:

DROP DATABASE mydb;

DROP MEASUREMENT

drop_measurement_stmt = "DROP MEASUREMENT" measurement_name .

Examples:

-- drop the cpu measurement
DROP MEASUREMENT cpu;

DROP RETENTION POLICY

drop_retention_policy_stmt = "DROP RETENTION POLICY" policy_name on_clause .

Example:

-- drop the retention policy named 1h.cpu from mydb
DROP RETENTION POLICY "1h.cpu" ON mydb;

DROP SERIES

drop_series_stmt = "DROP SERIES" ( from_clause | where_clause | from_clause where_clause ) .

Example:

DROP SUBSCRIPTION

drop_subscription_stmt = "DROP SUBSCRIPTION" subscription_name "ON" db_name "." retention_policy .

Example:

DROP SUBSCRIPTION sub0 ON "mydb"."default";

DROP USER

drop_user_stmt = "DROP USER" user_name .

Example:

DROP USER jdoe;

GRANT

NOTE: Users can be granted privileges on databases that do not exist.

grant_stmt = "GRANT" privilege [ on_clause ] to_clause .

Examples:

-- grant cluster admin privileges
GRANT ALL TO jdoe;

-- grant read access to a database
GRANT READ ON mydb TO jdoe;

SHOW CONTINUOUS QUERIES

show_continuous_queries_stmt = "SHOW CONTINUOUS QUERIES" .

Example:

-- show all continuous queries
SHOW CONTINUOUS QUERIES;

SHOW DATABASES

show_databases_stmt = "SHOW DATABASES" .

Example:

-- show all databases
SHOW DATABASES;

SHOW FIELD KEYS

show_field_keys_stmt = "SHOW FIELD KEYS" [ from_clause ] .

Examples:

-- show field keys from all measurements
SHOW FIELD KEYS;

-- show field keys from specified measurement
SHOW FIELD KEYS FROM cpu;

SHOW GRANTS

show_grants_stmt = "SHOW GRANTS FOR" user_name .

Example:

-- show grants for jdoe
SHOW GRANTS FOR jdoe;

SHOW MEASUREMENTS

show_measurements_stmt = "SHOW MEASUREMENTS" [ with_measurement_clause ] [ where_clause ] [ limit_clause ] [ offset_clause ] .

-- show all measurements
SHOW MEASUREMENTS;

-- show measurements where region tag = 'uswest' AND host tag = 'serverA'
SHOW MEASUREMENTS WHERE region = 'uswest' AND host = 'serverA';

SHOW RETENTION POLICIES

show_retention_policies = "SHOW RETENTION POLICIES" on_clause .

Example:

-- show all retention policies on a database
SHOW RETENTION POLICIES ON mydb;

SHOW SERIES

show_series_stmt = "SHOW SERIES" [ from_clause ] [ where_clause ] [ limit_clause ] [ offset_clause ] .

Example:

SHOW SHARD GROUPS

show_shard_groups_stmt = "SHOW SHARD GROUPS" .

Example:

SHOW SHARD GROUPS;

SHOW SHARDS

show_shards_stmt = "SHOW SHARDS" .

Example:

SHOW SHARDS;

SHOW SUBSCRIPTIONS

show_subscriptions_stmt = "SHOW SUBSCRIPTIONS" .

Example:

SHOW SUBSCRIPTIONS;

SHOW TAG KEYS

show_tag_keys_stmt = "SHOW TAG KEYS" [ from_clause ] [ where_clause ] [ group_by_clause ]
                     [ limit_clause ] [ offset_clause ] .

Examples:

-- show all tag keys
SHOW TAG KEYS;

-- show all tag keys from the cpu measurement
SHOW TAG KEYS FROM cpu;

-- show all tag keys from the cpu measurement where the region key = 'uswest'
SHOW TAG KEYS FROM cpu WHERE region = 'uswest';

-- show all tag keys where the host key = 'serverA'
SHOW TAG KEYS WHERE host = 'serverA';

SHOW TAG VALUES

show_tag_values_stmt = "SHOW TAG VALUES" [ from_clause ] with_tag_clause [ where_clause ]
                       [ group_by_clause ] [ limit_clause ] [ offset_clause ] .

Examples:

-- show all tag values across all measurements for the region tag
SHOW TAG VALUES WITH TAG = 'region';

-- show tag values from the cpu measurement for the region tag
SHOW TAG VALUES FROM cpu WITH KEY = 'region';

-- show tag values from the cpu measurement for region & host tag keys where service = 'redis'
SHOW TAG VALUES FROM cpu WITH KEY IN (region, host) WHERE service = 'redis';

SHOW USERS

show_users_stmt = "SHOW USERS" .

Example:

-- show all users
SHOW USERS;

REVOKE

revoke_stmt = "REVOKE" privilege [ on_clause ] "FROM" user_name .

Examples:

-- revoke cluster admin from jdoe
REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES FROM jdoe;

-- revoke read privileges from jdoe on mydb
REVOKE READ ON mydb FROM jdoe;

SELECT

select_stmt = "SELECT" fields from_clause [ into_clause ] [ where_clause ]
              [ group_by_clause ] [ order_by_clause ] [ limit_clause ]
              [ offset_clause ] [ slimit_clause ] [ soffset_clause ] .

Examples:

-- select mean value from the cpu measurement where region = 'uswest' grouped by 10 minute intervals
SELECT mean(value) FROM cpu WHERE region = 'uswest' GROUP BY time(10m) fill(0);

-- select from all measurements beginning with cpu into the same measurement name in the cpu_1h retention policy
SELECT mean(value) INTO cpu_1h.:MEASUREMENT FROM /cpu.*/

Clauses

from_clause     = "FROM" measurements .

group_by_clause = "GROUP BY" dimensions fill(fill_option).

into_clause     = "INTO" ( measurement | back_ref ).

limit_clause    = "LIMIT" int_lit .

offset_clause   = "OFFSET" int_lit .

slimit_clause   = "SLIMIT" int_lit .

soffset_clause  = "SOFFSET" int_lit .

on_clause       = "ON" db_name .

order_by_clause = "ORDER BY" sort_fields .

to_clause       = "TO" user_name .

where_clause    = "WHERE" expr .

with_measurement_clause = "WITH MEASUREMENT" ( "=" measurement | "=~" regex_lit ) .

with_tag_clause = "WITH KEY" ( "=" tag_key | "IN (" tag_keys ")" ) .

Expressions

binary_op        = "+" | "-" | "*" | "/" | "AND" | "OR" | "=" | "!=" | "<" |
                   "<=" | ">" | ">=" .

expr             = unary_expr { binary_op unary_expr } .

unary_expr       = "(" expr ")" | var_ref | time_lit | string_lit | int_lit |
                   float_lit | bool_lit | duration_lit | regex_lit .

Other

alias            = "AS" identifier .

back_ref         = ( policy_name ".:MEASUREMENT" ) |
                   ( db_name "." [ policy_name ] ".:MEASUREMENT" ) .

db_name          = identifier .

dimension        = expr .

dimensions       = dimension { "," dimension } .

field_key        = identifier .

field            = expr [ alias ] .

fields           = field { "," field } .

fill_option      = "null" | "none" | "previous" | int_lit | float_lit .

host             = string_lit .

measurement      = measurement_name |
                   ( policy_name "." measurement_name ) |
                   ( db_name "." [ policy_name ] "." measurement_name ) .

measurements     = measurement { "," measurement } .

measurement_name = identifier .

password         = string_lit .

policy_name      = identifier .

privilege        = "ALL" [ "PRIVILEGES" ] | "READ" | "WRITE" .

query_name       = identifier .

retention_policy = identifier .

retention_policy_option      = retention_policy_duration |
                               retention_policy_replication |
                               "DEFAULT" .

retention_policy_duration    = "DURATION" duration_lit .
retention_policy_replication = "REPLICATION" int_lit

series_id        = int_lit .

sort_field       = field_key [ ASC | DESC ] .

sort_fields      = sort_field { "," sort_field } .

subscription_name = identifier .

tag_key          = identifier .

tag_keys         = tag_key { "," tag_key } .

user_name        = identifier .

var_ref          = measurement .