Chapter 9 Language Structure

Table of Contents

9.1 Literal Values

9.1.1 String Literals

9.1.2 Numeric Literals

9.1.3 Date and Time Literals

9.1.4 Hexadecimal Literals

9.1.5 Bit-Value Literals

9.1.6 Boolean Literals

9.1.7 NULL Values

9.2 Schema Object Names

9.2.1 Identifier Length Limits

9.2.2 Identifier Qualifiers

9.2.3 Identifier Case Sensitivity

9.2.4 Mapping of Identifiers to File Names

9.2.5 Function Name Parsing and Resolution

9.3 Keywords and Reserved Words

9.4 User-Defined Variables

9.5 Expressions

9.6 Query Attributes

9.7 Comments

This chapter discusses the rules for writing the following elements of SQL statements when using MySQL:

• Literal values such as strings and numbers

• Identifiers such as database, table, and column names

• Keywords and reserved words

• User-defined and system variables

• Expressions

• Query attributes

• Comments