sqlglot-rust
A SQL parser, optimizer, and transpiler library written in Rust, inspired by Python's sqlglot.
Features
- Parse SQL strings into a structured AST
- Generate SQL from AST nodes
- Transpile between 30 SQL dialects
- C/C++ FFI — shared & static libraries with a C header for integration from C, C++, or any language with C ABI support
- CLI — command-line interface for transpiling, parsing, and formatting SQL
- Expression Builder API — fluent builders for programmatic SQL construction
- Typed function expressions — 72+ functions across 8 categories with dialect-specific generation
- LIMIT / TOP / FETCH FIRST transpilation across dialects
- Quoted identifier preservation and cross-dialect conversion (
"id"↔`id`↔[id]) - Optimize SQL queries (constant folding, boolean simplification, subquery unnesting, predicate pushdown, column qualification)
- Scope analysis — track query scopes, sources, columns, and correlations across nested queries
- Schema management — dialect-aware table/column registration and type lookup
- AST traversal — walk, find, transform expressions
- AST Diff — semantic comparison of SQL statements with structural change detection
- SQL Execution Engine — in-memory query execution against Rust data structures for testing and validation
- CTEs, subqueries, set operations (UNION / INTERSECT / EXCEPT)
- Window functions with frames and filters
- CAST, TRY_CAST, EXTRACT, INTERVAL, EXISTS, ANY/ALL/SOME
- Full DDL support (CREATE TABLE, ALTER TABLE, DROP TABLE, CREATE VIEW, etc.)
- Serde serialization for AST nodes
Supported Dialects
All 30 dialects from Python's sqlglot are supported, with function name mapping, data type mapping, and ILIKE rewriting between dialects.
Official Dialects
| Dialect | Description |
|---|---|
| ANSI SQL | Base SQL standard |
| Athena | AWS Athena (Presto-based) |
| BigQuery | Google BigQuery |
| ClickHouse | ClickHouse |
| Databricks | Databricks (Spark-based) |
| DuckDB | DuckDB |
| Hive | Apache Hive |
| MySQL | MySQL |
| Oracle | Oracle Database |
| PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL |
| Presto | Presto |
| Redshift | Amazon Redshift (Postgres-based) |
| Snowflake | Snowflake |
| Spark | Apache Spark SQL |
| SQLite | SQLite |
| StarRocks | StarRocks (MySQL-compatible) |
| Trino | Trino (Presto successor) |
| T-SQL | Microsoft SQL Server |
Community Dialects
| Dialect | Description |
|---|---|
| Doris | Apache Doris (MySQL-compatible) |
| Dremio | Dremio |
| Drill | Apache Drill |
| Druid | Apache Druid |
| Exasol | Exasol |
| Fabric | Microsoft Fabric (T-SQL variant) |
| Materialize | Materialize (Postgres-compatible) |
| PRQL | Pipelined Relational Query Language |
| RisingWave | RisingWave (Postgres-compatible) |
| SingleStore | SingleStore (MySQL-compatible) |
| Tableau | Tableau |
| Teradata | Teradata |
Dialect Transform Rules
The transpiler applies dialect-specific rewrite rules when converting between dialects:
| Rule | Example |
|---|---|
| Function name mapping | NOW() → CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(), GETDATE() |
SUBSTR ↔ SUBSTRING |
Postgres uses SUBSTRING, MySQL uses SUBSTR |
CEIL → CEILING |
T-SQL uses CEILING |
POW → POWER |
T-SQL/Oracle use POWER |
DATE_TRUNC → DATETRUNC/TRUNC |
T-SQL uses DATETRUNC, Oracle uses TRUNC |
ARRAY_AGG → LIST/COLLECT_LIST |
DuckDB uses LIST, Hive/Spark use COLLECT_LIST |
HEX/UNHEX → TO_HEX/FROM_HEX |
Presto/Trino naming convention |
IFNULL → COALESCE |
MySQL IFNULL → ANSI COALESCE |
IFNULL → ISNULL |
MySQL IFNULL → T-SQL ISNULL |
NVL → COALESCE |
Oracle NVL → standard COALESCE |
LEN ↔ LENGTH |
T-SQL LEN ↔ standard LENGTH |
RAND ↔ RANDOM |
MySQL RAND ↔ Postgres RANDOM |
ILIKE → LOWER/LIKE |
Rewritten for dialects without native ILIKE |
LIMIT ↔ TOP |
LIMIT 10 → TOP 10 for T-SQL |
LIMIT → FETCH FIRST |
LIMIT 10 → FETCH FIRST 10 ROWS ONLY (Oracle) |
| Quoted identifiers | "id" ↔ `id` ↔ [id] per dialect |
| Data type mapping | TEXT ↔ STRING, INT → BIGINT (BigQuery) |
BYTEA ↔ BLOB |
Postgres BYTEA ↔ MySQL BLOB |
Quick Start
Add to your Cargo.toml:
[dependencies] sqlglot-rust = "0.9.24"
Parse and generate SQL
use sqlglot_rust::{parse, generate, Dialect}; fn main() { // Parse a SQL query let ast = parse("SELECT a, b FROM t WHERE a > 1", Dialect::Ansi).unwrap(); // Generate SQL (roundtrip) let sql = generate(&ast, Dialect::Ansi); assert_eq!(sql, "SELECT a, b FROM t WHERE a > 1"); }
Transpile between dialects
use sqlglot_rust::{transpile, Dialect}; fn main() { // Postgres → BigQuery: NOW() becomes CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() let sql = transpile( "SELECT NOW(), SUBSTRING(name, 1, 3) FROM users", Dialect::Postgres, Dialect::BigQuery, ).unwrap(); // → "SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(), SUBSTRING(name, 1, 3) FROM users" // Oracle → T-SQL: NVL becomes ISNULL let sql = transpile( "SELECT NVL(a, b) FROM t", Dialect::Oracle, Dialect::Tsql, ).unwrap(); // → "SELECT ISNULL(a, b) FROM t" }
Parse a dialect name from a string
use sqlglot_rust::Dialect; let d = Dialect::from_str("postgres").unwrap(); assert_eq!(d, Dialect::Postgres); // Multiple aliases are supported assert_eq!(Dialect::from_str("tsql"), Some(Dialect::Tsql)); assert_eq!(Dialect::from_str("mssql"), Some(Dialect::Tsql)); assert_eq!(Dialect::from_str("sqlserver"), Some(Dialect::Tsql));
Build SQL with the Expression Builder API
use sqlglot_rust::builder::{select, condition, column, literal}; use sqlglot_rust::{generate, Dialect}; fn main() { // Fluent SELECT builder let query = select(&["u.id", "u.name", "COUNT(o.id) AS order_count"]) .from("users") .left_join("orders", "u.id = o.user_id") .where_clause("u.active = true") .and_where("o.created_at > '2024-01-01'") .group_by(&["u.id", "u.name"]) .having("COUNT(o.id) > 0") .order_by(&["order_count DESC"]) .limit(10) .build(); let sql = generate(&query, Dialect::Postgres); // => "SELECT u.id, u.name, COUNT(o.id) AS order_count FROM users LEFT JOIN orders ON u.id = o.user_id WHERE u.active = true AND o.created_at > '2024-01-01' GROUP BY u.id, u.name HAVING COUNT(o.id) > 0 ORDER BY order_count DESC LIMIT 10" // Condition builder let cond = condition("x = 1") .and("y = 2") .or("z = 3") .build(); // Expression factory functions let col = column("name", Some("users")); // users.name let num = literal(42); // 42 }
Supported Statements
SELECT(with JOINs, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY, LIMIT, OFFSET, TOP, FETCH FIRST, QUALIFY)INSERT INTO ... VALUES/INSERT INTO ... SELECTUPDATE ... SET ... WHERE(with RETURNING)DELETE FROM ... WHERE(with USING)MERGE INTO ... USING ... WHEN MATCHED / WHEN NOT MATCHED(with dialect extensions)CREATE TABLE(with constraints, IF NOT EXISTS, TEMPORARY, AS SELECT)DROP TABLE(with IF EXISTS)ALTER TABLE(ADD COLUMN, DROP COLUMN, RENAME COLUMN, RENAME TO, ALTER TYPE)CREATE VIEW/DROP VIEWTRUNCATE TABLEBEGIN/COMMIT/ROLLBACKEXPLAINUSE
Expression Support
- Column references (qualified and unqualified) with quote-style metadata
- Numeric, string, boolean, and NULL literals
- Binary operators (
+,-,*,/,%,=,<>,<,>,<=,>=,AND,OR,||) - Unary operators (
NOT,-,+) - Bitwise operators (
&,|,^,<<,>>) - Function calls (with DISTINCT, FILTER, OVER support)
- Typed function expressions (72+ functions: date/time, string, aggregate, array, JSON, window, math, conversion)
BETWEEN,IN,IS NULL,LIKE,ILIKECASE ... WHEN ... THEN ... ELSE ... ENDCAST,TRY_CAST, PostgreSQL::castEXTRACT(field FROM expr)for all date/time fieldsINTERVALexpressionsEXISTS,IN (subquery)- Array literals (
ARRAY[1, 2, 3]) - Window functions with frames (
ROWS,RANGE,GROUPS) - Common Table Expressions (WITH / WITH RECURSIVE)
- Set operations (UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT with ALL)
- Parenthesized sub-expressions and subqueries
CLI
The CLI is built with the cli feature flag and provides three commands:
Install
cargo install sqlglot-rust --features cli
Transpile
Transpile SQL between dialects:
# From stdin echo "SELECT CAST(x AS INT) FROM t" | sqlglot transpile --read mysql --write postgres # With pretty-printing echo "SELECT a, b FROM t WHERE x > 1" | sqlglot transpile --pretty # With optimizer echo "SELECT * FROM t WHERE 1 = 1 AND a > 5" | sqlglot transpile --optimize # From file to file sqlglot transpile --read mysql --write postgres --input query.sql --output result.sql
Parse
Parse SQL and output the AST as JSON:
echo "SELECT a FROM t" | sqlglot parse --pretty
Format
Pretty-print SQL:
echo "select a,b from t where x>1" | sqlglot format
Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--read <dialect> |
Source dialect (default: ansi) |
--write <dialect> |
Target dialect (default: ansi) |
--pretty |
Pretty-print output |
--input <file> |
Read from file instead of stdin |
--output <file> |
Write to file instead of stdout |
--optimize |
Run optimizer before generation (transpile only) |
C/C++ FFI
sqlglot-rust can be built as a shared library (.so / .dylib / .dll) or a static library (.a) for use from C, C++, or any language that supports the C ABI.
Build the FFI libraries
# Build for the current host make ffi # Build for a specific target make ffi-macos-arm64 # aarch64-apple-darwin make ffi-macos-amd64 # x86_64-apple-darwin make ffi-linux-amd64 # x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu make ffi-linux-arm64 # aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu # Build all four targets make ffi-all
Output goes to target/ffi/ with the C header at target/ffi/include/sqlglot.h.
C API
#include "sqlglot.h" const char *sqlglot_version(void); char *sqlglot_parse(const char *sql, const char *dialect); char *sqlglot_transpile(const char *sql, const char *from_dialect, const char *to_dialect); char *sqlglot_generate(const char *ast_json, const char *dialect); void sqlglot_free(char *ptr); /* must be called on every non-NULL return */
C usage example
#include <stdio.h> #include "sqlglot.h" int main(void) { char *result = sqlglot_transpile("SELECT * FROM t LIMIT 10", "mysql", "tsql"); if (result) { printf("%s\n", result); /* → SELECT TOP 10 * FROM t */ sqlglot_free(result); } return 0; }
See examples/ffi_example.c and examples/ffi_example.cpp for complete examples.
Link against the library
# macOS gcc example.c -Itarget/ffi/include -Ltarget/release -lsqlglot_rust -o example # Linux gcc example.c -Itarget/ffi/include -Ltarget/release -lsqlglot_rust -lpthread -ldl -lm -o example LD_LIBRARY_PATH=target/release ./example
Documentation
- Installation — Dependency setup and verification
- Developer Guide — Parsing, generating, transpiling, AST traversal, optimization, and serialization with full code examples
- API Reference — Complete type catalog, function signatures, dialect tables, and error variants
Architecture
src/
├── ast/ # AST node definitions (~40 expression types, 15 statement types)
├── bin/ # CLI binary (sqlglot) — feature-gated behind "cli"
├── ffi.rs # C-compatible FFI bindings (extern "C" API)
├── tokens/ # Token types (~200+ variants) and tokenizer
├── parser/ # Recursive-descent SQL parser
├── generator/ # SQL code generator
├── dialects/ # 30 dialect definitions with transform rules
├── optimizer/ # Query optimization and scope analysis
├── planner/ # Logical query planner (execution plan DAG)
├── executor/ # In-memory SQL execution engine
├── schema/ # Schema management (MappingSchema, dialect-aware lookups)
├── errors/ # Error types
└── lib.rs # Public API (parse, generate, transpile)
Development
# Build cargo build # Build with CLI cargo build --features cli # Run tests (500+ tests) cargo test # Run CLI tests cargo test --features cli --test test_cli # Run benchmarks cargo bench # Lint cargo clippy # Format cargo fmt
A Makefile is provided for convenience:
make build # cargo build make test # cargo test make lint # cargo clippy make fmt # cargo fmt make sbom # Generate SPDX SBOM (see below) make bump-version # Update version across all files (see below) make ffi # Build FFI libraries for the current host make ffi-all # Build FFI libraries for all 4 targets (macOS/Linux × arm64/amd64) make all # build + sbom
SBOM (Software Bill of Materials)
The project supports generating an SBOM in SPDX 2.3 JSON format using cargo-sbom.
Prerequisites
Install cargo-sbom:
Generate the SBOM
This writes the SBOM to target/sbom/sqlglot-rust.spdx.json. You can also run the command directly:
cargo sbom --output-format spdx_json_2_3 > target/sbom/sqlglot-rust.spdx.jsonThe generated SBOM includes all dependency packages with license information, download locations, and Package URLs (PURLs).
Updating the Version
Use the bump-version Makefile target to update the version consistently across
all configuration and documentation files:
make bump-version VERSION=1.0.0
This updates:
Cargo.toml— package versionREADME.md— dependency snippetdocs/installation.md— dependency snippetCargo.lock— regenerated automatically
The VERSION parameter is required and must be a full semantic version (e.g. 1.0.0, 0.10.1).
Acknowledgements
This project is inspired by and derived from sqlglot by Toby Mao, licensed under the MIT License. The original sqlglot license is included in this repository as required by the MIT License terms. A copy of the original license can also be found in the polyglot repository.
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.
This project includes code and concepts derived from sqlglot, which is also licensed under the MIT License. The original copyright notice and permission notice are reproduced below:
MIT License
Copyright (c) 2023 Toby Mao
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