Reserved Keywords

Reserved keywords have special meaning in NQL and cannot be used as unquoted identifiers (table names, column names, aliases). To use a reserved keyword as an identifier, enclose it in double quotes.

Using reserved keywords as identifiers

-- This fails: "type" is a reserved keyword
SELECT type FROM company_data."123"

-- This works: quoted identifier
SELECT "type" FROM company_data."123"

-- Column alias using reserved keyword
SELECT category AS "group" FROM company_data."123"

Reserved keywords list

The following keywords are reserved in NQL:

A-C

Keyword	Category
`ALL`	Clause
`AND`	Operator
`ANY`	Clause
`ARRAY`	Type
`AS`	Clause
`ASC`	Clause
`BETWEEN`	Operator
`BIGINT`	Type
`BOOLEAN`	Type
`BUDGET`	Narrative
`BY`	Clause
`CALENDAR_DAY`	Narrative
`CALENDAR_MONTH`	Narrative
`CASE`	Expression
`CAST`	Function
`CREATE`	Statement
`CROSS`	Join
`CURRENT_DATE`	Function
`CURRENT_TIMESTAMP`	Function

D-G

Keyword	Category
`DATE`	Type
`DAY`	Interval
`DECIMAL`	Type
`DELETE`	Statement
`DELTA`	Narrative
`DESC`	Clause
`DESCRIPTION`	Narrative
`DISPLAY_NAME`	Narrative
`DISTINCT`	Clause
`DOUBLE`	Type
`ELSE`	Expression
`END`	Expression
`EXISTS`	Operator
`EXPLAIN`	Statement
`EXPIRE`	Narrative
`EXTENDED_STATS`	Narrative
`FALSE`	Literal
`FROM`	Clause
`FULL`	Join
`GROUP`	Clause

H-L

Keyword	Category
`HAVING`	Clause
`HOUR`	Interval
`IF`	Function
`IN`	Operator
`INNER`	Join
`INSERT`	Statement
`INT`	Type
`INTEGER`	Type
`INTERVAL`	Type
`INTO`	Clause
`IS`	Operator
`JOIN`	Join
`LATERAL`	Join
`LEFT`	Join
`LIKE`	Operator
`LIMIT`	Clause
`LONG`	Type

M-O

Keyword	Category
`MAP`	Type
`MATCHED`	Merge
`MATERIALIZED`	Statement
`MERGE`	Statement
`MINUTE`	Interval
`MONTH`	Interval
`NOT`	Operator
`NULL`	Literal
`OFFSET`	Clause
`ON`	Clause
`OR`	Operator
`ORDER`	Clause
`OUTER`	Join
`OVER`	Window

P-R

Keyword	Category
`PARTITION`	Window
`PARTITIONED_BY`	Narrative
`PER`	Narrative
`QUALIFY`	Clause
`REFRESH_SCHEDULE`	Narrative
`RIGHT`	Join
`ROWS`	Clause

S-T

Keyword	Category
`SECOND`	Interval
`SELECT`	Statement
`SET`	Statement
`SOURCE`	Merge
`STATUS`	Narrative
`STRING`	Type
`STRUCT`	Type
`TABLE`	Statement
`TAGS`	Narrative
`TARGET`	Merge
`THEN`	Expression
`TIMESTAMP`	Type
`TRUE`	Literal

U-Z

Keyword	Category
`UNION`	Clause
`UNNEST`	Function
`UPDATE`	Statement
`USD`	Narrative
`VALUES`	Clause
`VARCHAR`	Type
`VIEW`	Statement
`WHEN`	Expression
`WHERE`	Clause
`WITH`	Clause
`WITHIN`	Clause
`WRITE_MODE`	Narrative
`YEAR`	Interval

Category	Description
Clause	SQL clause keywords
Expression	CASE/conditional expression keywords
Function	Built-in function names
Interval	Date/time interval units
Join	JOIN clause keywords
Literal	Literal value keywords
Merge	MERGE statement keywords
Narrative	Narrative-specific extensions
Operator	Comparison and logical operators
Statement	Statement type keywords
Type	Data type keywords
Window	Window function keywords

Best practices

Quote numeric dataset IDs

Numeric dataset IDs must be quoted because they are numeric. Dataset names are identifiers and don’t need quoting — unless the name is a reserved keyword or contains special characters, in which case wrap it in double quotes:

-- Correct
FROM company_data."123"
FROM company_data.my_dataset
FROM company_data."select"   -- name that is a reserved keyword

-- Incorrect
FROM company_data.123

Quote ambiguous column names

When column names might conflict with keywords:

SELECT
  "type",
  "group",
  "order",
  "value"
FROM company_data."123"

Use aliases for clarity

Assign clear aliases to avoid quoting in subsequent references:

SELECT
  "type" AS identifier_type,
  "group" AS category_group
FROM company_data."123"
WHERE identifier_type = 'email'

Prefer bracket notation for property access

When accessing struct fields, bracket notation avoids reserved keyword conflicts:

-- Bracket notation: no quoting needed for reserved keywords
SELECT
  data['type'],
  data['value'],
  data['group']
FROM company_data."123"

-- Dot notation: reserved keywords must be double-quoted
SELECT
  data."type",
  data."value",
  data."group"
FROM company_data."123"

Both syntaxes work, but bracket notation is simpler when field names may include reserved keywords.

NQL Syntax

Query structure and grammar reference

Data Types

Type keywords and declarations

Overview

Data Types

SQL Commands

Operators

Functions

General Reference

Using reserved keywords as identifiers

Reserved keywords list

A-C

D-G

H-L

M-O

P-R

S-T

U-Z

Categories

Best practices

Quote numeric dataset IDs

Quote ambiguous column names

Use aliases for clarity

Prefer bracket notation for property access

NQL Syntax

Data Types

​Using reserved keywords as identifiers

​Reserved keywords list

​A-C

​D-G

​H-L

​M-O

​P-R

​S-T

​U-Z

​Categories

​Best practices

​Quote numeric dataset IDs

​Quote ambiguous column names

​Use aliases for clarity

​Prefer bracket notation for property access

​Related content

NQL Syntax

Data Types

Using reserved keywords as identifiers

Reserved keywords list

A-C

D-G

H-L

M-O

P-R

S-T

U-Z

Categories

Best practices

Quote numeric dataset IDs

Quote ambiguous column names

Use aliases for clarity

Prefer bracket notation for property access

Related content