CQL quick reference

A consolidated syntax list of Cassandra Query Language (CQL) commands for quick reference.

ALTER TABLE [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name>
  [ ADD ( <column_definition> | <column_definition_list> ) [ , ... ] ]
  [ DROP <column_name> [ , ... ] ]
  [ [ RENAME <column_name> TO <column_name> ] |
    [ RENAME ( VERTEX LABEL | EDGE LABEL ) TO <new_name> ] ]
  [ WITH <table_properties> [ , ... ] ]
  [ WITH ( VERTEX LABEL | EDGE LABEL ) <current_name> ]
  [ WITHOUT ( VERTEX LABEL | EDGE LABEL ) <current_name> ];

ALTER TYPE

ALTER TYPE <field_name>
  ( ADD <field_name> <cql_datatype>
  | RENAME <field_name> TO <<<new_field_name> [ AND <field_name> TO <new_field_name> ...] ) ;

BATCH

BEGIN [ ( UNLOGGED | LOGGED ) ] BATCH
  [ USING TIMESTAMP [ <epoch_microseconds> ] ]
  <dml_statement> [ USING TIMESTAMP [ <epoch_microseconds> ] ] ;
  [ <dml_statement> [ USING TIMESTAMP [ <epoch_microseconds> ] ] [ ; ... ] ] ;
  APPLY BATCH ;

CREATE INDEX

CREATE [CUSTOM] INDEX [ IF NOT EXISTS ] [ <index_name> ]
  ON [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name>
  ([ KEYS | VALUES | ENTRIES | FULL] <column_name>)
    USING <index_type>
  [ WITH OPTIONS = { <option_map> } ] ;

CREATE TABLE

CREATE TABLE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name>
  ( <column_definition> [ , ... ] | [ PRIMARY KEY (partition_key_column_name, clustering_column_name) ] )
  [ AND <table_options> ]
  [ CLUSTERING ORDER BY [ <clustering_column_name> [ ASC | DESC ] ][ , ... ] ]
  [ AND ( VERTEX LABEL <vl_name> | EDGE LABEL ) <el_name> FROM <vl_name> TO <vl_name>]
  [ [ AND ] ID = '<table_hash_tag>' ] ] ;

The CLUSTERING ORDER BY clause is optional. If not specified, the default is ASC.
The ID clause is not configurable for Astra DB, and it is ignored if specified.

The ID clause is optional. If specified, the table is created with a hash tag that is used to identify the table in the schema. If a table is accidentally dropped, use this option to recreate the table and run a commit log replay to retrieve the data.

CREATE TYPE

CREATE TYPE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] [<keyspace_name>].<type_name>
  (<field_name> <cql_datatype> [ , <field_name> <cql_datatype> ... ]) ;

DELETE

DELETE [ <column_name> [ <term> ] [ , ... ] ]
  FROM [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name>
  [ USING TIMESTAMP <timestamp_value> ]
  WHERE <PK_column_conditions>
  [ ( IF EXISTS | IF <static_column_conditions> ) ] ;

DROP INDEX

DROP INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] [<keyspace_name>.]<index_name> ;

DROP TABLE

DROP TABLE [ IF EXISTS ] [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name> ;

DROP TYPE

DROP TYPE [ IF EXISTS ] [<keyspace_name>.]<type_name> ;

INSERT

INSERT [ JSON ] INTO [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name>
  [ <column_list> VALUES <column_values> ]
  [ IF NOT EXISTS ]
  [ USING [ TTL <seconds> ] [ [ AND ] TIMESTAMP <epoch_in_microseconds> ] ] ;

SELECT

SELECT [ JSON | DISTINCT ] <selectors>
  FROM [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name>
  [ WHERE [ <primary_key_conditions> | <non_primary_key_conditions> IN (<column_name> [, ...]) ALLOW FILTERING ] [ AND ] [ <index_conditions> ]
  [ GROUP BY <column_name> [ , ... ] ]
  [ ORDER BY <column_name> ( ASC | DESC ) [ , ... ] ] |
  [ ORDER BY <vector_column_name> ANN OF [n,n,n,...] [ LIMIT N ] ]
  [ ( LIMIT <N> [ OFFSET <N> ]  | PER PARTITION LIMIT <N> ) ]
  [ ALLOW FILTERING ] ;

TRUNCATE

TRUNCATE [ TABLE ] [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name> ;

UPDATE

UPDATE [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name>
  [ USING TTL <time_value> ]
  [ [ AND ] USING TIMESTAMP <timestamp_value> ]
  SET <assignment> [ , <assignment> ... ]
  WHERE <row_specification>
  [ IF EXISTS | IF <condition> [ AND <condition> ] ] ;

USE

USE <keyspace_name> ;

CQL quick reference

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