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Keywords and Reserved Words

Keywords have significance in nGQL. Certain keywords are reserved and require special treatment for use as identifiers.

Non-reserved keywords are permitted as identifiers without quoting. Non-reserved keywords are case-insensitive. To use reserved keywords as identifiers, quote them with back quotes such as `AND`.

nebula> CREATE TAG TAG(name string);
[ERROR (-7)]: SyntaxError: syntax error near `TAG'

// SPACE is an unreserved keyword.
nebula> CREATE TAG SPACE(name string);
Execution succeeded

TAG is a reserved keyword. To use TAG as an identifier, you must quote it with a backtick. SPACE is a non-reserved keyword. You can use SPACE as an identifier without quoting it.

Note

There is a small pitfall when you use the non-reserved keyword. Unquoted non-reserved keyword will be converted to lower-case words. For example, SPACE or Space will become space.

// TAG is a reserved keyword here.
nebula> CREATE TAG `TAG` (name string);
Execution succeeded

Reserved Words

The following list shows reserved words in nGQL.

ADD
ALTER
AND
AS
ASC
BALANCE
BOOL
BY
CASE
CHANGE
COMPACT
CREATE
DATE
DATETIME
DELETE
DESC
DESCRIBE
DISTINCT
DOUBLE
DOWNLOAD
DROP
EDGE
EDGES
EXISTS
EXPLAIN
FETCH
FIND
FIXED_STRING
FLOAT
FLUSH
FORMAT
FROM
GET
GO
GRANT
IF
IN
INDEX
INDEXES
INGEST
INSERT
INT
INT16
INT32
INT64
INT8
INTERSECT
IS
LIMIT
LOOKUP
MATCH
MINUS
NO
NOT
NULL
OF
OFFSET
ON
OR
ORDER
OVER
OVERWRITE
PROFILE
PROP
REBUILD
RECOVER
REMOVE
RETURN
REVERSELY
REVOKE
SET
SHOW
STEP
STEPS
STOP
STRING
SUBMIT
TAG
TAGS
TIME
TIMESTAMP
TO
UNION
UPDATE
UPSERT
UPTO
USE
VERTEX
WHEN
WHERE
WITH
XOR
YIELD

Non-Reserved Keywords

ACCOUNT
ADMIN
ALL
ANY
ATOMIC_EDGE
AUTO
AVG
BIDIRECT
BIT_AND
BIT_OR
BIT_XOR
BOTH
CHARSET
CLIENTS
COLLATE
COLLATION
COLLECT
COLLECT_SET
CONFIGS
CONTAINS
COUNT
COUNT_DISTINCT
DATA
DBA
DEFAULT
ELASTICSEARCH
ELSE
END
ENDS
FALSE
FORCE
FUZZY
GOD
GRAPH
GROUP
GROUPS
GUEST
HDFS
HOST
HOSTS
INTO
JOB
JOBS
LEADER
LISTENER
MAX
META
MIN
NOLOOP
NONE
OPTIONAL
OUT
PART
PARTITION_NUM
PARTS
PASSWORD
PATH
PLAN
PREFIX
REGEXP
REPLICA_FACTOR
RESET
ROLE
ROLES
SEARCH
SERVICE
SHORTEST
SIGN
SINGLE
SKIP
SNAPSHOT
SNAPSHOTS
SPACE
SPACES
STARTS
STATS
STATUS
STD
STORAGE
SUBGRAPH
SUM
TEXT
TEXT_SEARCH
THEN
TRUE
TTL_COL
TTL_DURATION
UNWIND
USER
USERS
UUID
VALUE
VALUES
VID_TYPE
WILDCARD
ZONE
ZONES

Last update: April 22, 2021
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