SELECT (Push Query)¶

Synopsis¶

SELECT select_expr [, ...]
  FROM from_item
  [ LEFT JOIN join_table ON join_criteria ]
  [ WINDOW window_expression ]
  [ WHERE condition ]
  [ GROUP BY grouping_expression ]
  [ HAVING having_expression ]
  EMIT CHANGES
  [ LIMIT count ];

Description¶

Push a continuous stream of updates to the ksqlDB stream or table. The result of this statement isn't persisted in a Kafka topic and is printed out only in the console. To stop the continuous query in the CLI press Ctrl+C. Note that the WINDOW clause can only be used if the from_item is a stream.

Push queries enable you to query a materialized view with a subscription to the results. Push queries emit refinements to materialized views, which enable reacting to new information in real-time. They’re a good fit for asynchronous application flows. For request/response flows, see Pull Queries.

Execute a push query by sending an HTTP request to the ksqlDB REST API, and the API sends back a chunked response of indefinite length.

In the previous statements, from_item is one of the following:

stream_name [ alias ]
table_name [ alias ]
from_item LEFT JOIN from_item ON join_condition

The WHERE clause can refer to any column defined for a stream or table, including the system columns ROWTIME and ROWKEY.

Example¶

The following statement shows how to select all records from a pageviews stream that have timestamps between two values.

SELECT * FROM pageviews
  WHERE ROWTIME >= 1510923225000
    AND ROWTIME <= 1510923228000
  EMIT CHANGES;

When writing logical expressions using ROWTIME, you can use ISO-8601 formatted date strings to represent date times. For example, the previous query is equivalent to the following:

SELECT * FROM pageviews
  WHERE ROWTIME >= '2017-11-17T04:53:45'
    AND ROWTIME <= '2017-11-17T04:53:48'
  EMIT CHANGES;

If the datestring is inexact, the rest of the timestamp is assumed to be padded with 0s. For example, ROWTIME = '2019-07-30T11:00' is equivalent to ROWTIME = '2019-07-30T11:00:00.0000'.

You can specify time zones within the datestring. For example, 2017-11-17T04:53:45-0330 is in the Newfoundland time zone. If no timezone is specified within the datestring, then timestamps are interpreted in the UTC time zone.

You use the LIMIT clause to limit the number of rows returned. Once the limit is reached, the query terminates.

The following statement shows how to select five records from a pageviews stream.

SELECT * FROM pageviews EMIT CHANGES LIMIT 5;

If no limit is supplied the query runs until terminated, streaming back all results to the console.

Tip

If you want to select older data, you can configure ksqlDB to query the stream from the beginning. You must run this configuration before running the query:

SET 'auto.offset.reset' = 'earliest';

WINDOW¶

The WINDOW clause lets you control how to group input records that have the same key into so-called windows for operations like aggregations or joins. Windows are tracked per record key.

Windowing adds two additional system columns to the data, which provide the window bounds: WINDOWSTART and WINDOWEND.

KsqlDB supports the following WINDOW types.

TUMBLING: Tumbling windows group input records into fixed-sized, non-overlapping windows based on the records' timestamps. You must specify the window size for tumbling windows. Tumbling windows are a special case of hopping windows, where the window size is equal to the advance interval.

The following statement shows how to create a push query that has a tumbling window.

SELECT windowstart, windowend, item_id, SUM(quantity)
  FROM orders
  WINDOW TUMBLING (SIZE 20 SECONDS)
  GROUP BY item_id
  EMIT CHANGES;

HOPPING: Hopping windows group input records into fixed-sized, (possibly) overlapping windows based on the records' timestamps. You must specify the window size and the advance interval for hopping windows.

The following statement shows how to create a push query that has a hopping window.

SELECT windowstart, windowend, item_id, SUM(quantity)
  FROM orders
  WINDOW HOPPING (SIZE 20 SECONDS, ADVANCE BY 5 SECONDS)
  GROUP BY item_id
  EMIT CHANGES;

SESSION: Session windows group input records into so-called sessions. You must specify the session inactivity gap parameter for session windows. For example, imagine you set the inactivity gap to 5 minutes. If, for a given record key such as "alice", no new input data arrives for more than 5 minutes, then the current session for "alice" is closed, and any newly arriving data for "alice" in the future will mark the beginning of a new session.

The following statement shows how to create a push query that has a session window.

SELECT windowstart, windowend, item_id, SUM(quantity)
  FROM orders
  WINDOW SESSION (20 SECONDS)
  GROUP BY item_id
  EMIT CHANGES;

Every output column of an expression in the SELECT list has an output name. To specify the output name of a column, use AS OUTPUT_NAME after the expression definition. If it is omitted, ksqlDB will assign a system generated name KSQL_COL_i where i is the ordinal number of the expression in the SELECT list. If the expression references a column of a from_item, then the output name is the name of that column.

ksqlDB throws an error for duplicate output names. For example:

SELECT 1, KSQL_COL_0
  FROM orders
  EMIT CHANGES;

is not allowed, as the output name for the literal 1 is KSQL_COL_0.

CAST¶

Synopsis

CAST (expression AS data_type);

You can cast an expression's type to a new type using CAST.

The following query converts a numerical count, which is a BIGINT, into a suffixed string, which is a VARCHAR. For example, the integer 5 becomes 5_HELLO.

SELECT page_id, CONCAT(CAST(COUNT(*) AS VARCHAR), '_HELLO')
  FROM pageviews_enriched
  WINDOW TUMBLING (SIZE 20 SECONDS)
  GROUP BY page_id;

CASE¶

Synopsis

CASE
   WHEN condition THEN result
   [ WHEN ... THEN ... ]
   …
   [ WHEN … THEN … ]
   [ ELSE result ]
END

ksqlDB supports a searched form of CASE expression. In this form, CASE evaluates each boolean condition in WHEN clauses, from left to right. If a condition is true, CASE returns the corresponding result. If none of the conditions is true, CASE returns the result from the ELSE clause. If none of the conditions is true and there is no ELSE clause, CASE returns null.

The schema for all results must be the same, otherwise ksqlDB rejects the statement.

The following push query uses a a CASE expression.

SELECT
 CASE
   WHEN orderunits < 2.0 THEN 'small'
   WHEN orderunits < 4.0 THEN 'medium'
   ELSE 'large'
 END AS case_result
FROM orders
EMIT CHANGES;

LIKE¶

Synopsis

column_name LIKE pattern;

The LIKE operator is used for prefix or suffix matching. ksqlDB supports the % wildcard, which represents zero or more characters.

The following push query uses the % wildcard to match any user_id that starts with "santa".

SELECT user_id
  FROM users
  WHERE user_id LIKE 'santa%'
  EMIT CHANGES;

BETWEEN¶

Synopsis

WHERE expression [NOT] BETWEEN start_expression AND end_expression;

The BETWEEN operator is used to indicate that a certain value must lie within a specified range, inclusive of boundaries. ksqlDB supports any expression that resolves to a numeric or string value for comparison.

The following push query uses the between clause to select only records that have an event_id between 10 and 20.

SELECT event
  FROM events
  WHERE event_id BETWEEN 10 AND 20
  EMIT CHANGES;

Page last revised on: 2020-04-29

Last update: 2020-04-29