Query Structures

SDQL query structures range from simple to as simple as possible.

parameters @ conditions

The basic SDQL structure is a comma delimted list of parameters, an @ sign, followed by an and delimited list of conditions. This can be thought of as ‘what I want to see at the conditions under which I want to see it.’

Here are a few examples:

To request the date and points scored by the Colts in the 2016 season, use the SDQL:

date, points @ team=Colts and season=2016

To request the date, points, field goals made and field goals attempted for Bulls home games in 2015, use the SDQL:

date, points, field goals made, field goals attempted @ team=Bulls and site=home and season=2015

To get the date, team, starter, and the number of innings the starter went for all games in the 2017 MLB post season, use the SDQL:

date, team, starter, starter innings pitched @ season=2017 and playoffs=1

All of the sample SDQL queries above are singletons. Here are a few examples of query groupings (see Grouping):

To see the points and assists for each NBA team that played on June 12, 2017, use the SDQL:

points, assists @ team and date=20170612

To see the date and points for each Bulls and each Lakers game in November 2016, along with average points over the whole month of November, use the SDQL:

date, points, A(points) @ team and team in [Bulls,Lakers] and month=10 and season=2016

date and points default to summative type Column which is a list of values; A(points) returns a single value. Because of these mixed request fields, this is called an irregular query. An irregular query is often useful as input to subsequent queries (see Subsequent Queries).

If all of the parameters are summatives (see Summative) then the query result is reduced to a singleton.

To see the average points and average assists for each NBA team in 2016, use the SDQL:

A(points), A(assists) @ team and season=2016

p @ c | p’ @ c’

An SDQL query result is itself an SDQL data table and can be likewise queried (see Subsequent Queries).

To find MLB teams that had a season-long winning percentage of more than 60%, use the SDQL:

A(W), R((team,season)) @ team and season | $1, $2 @ $1 >.60