---
layout: docpage

title: "Documentation"

is_homepage: false
is_sphinx_doc: true

doc-title: "The Cassandra Query Language (CQL)"
doc-header-links: '
  <link rel="top" title="Apache Cassandra Documentation v4.0-alpha5" href="../index.html"/>
      <link rel="next" title="Definitions" href="definitions.html"/>
      <link rel="prev" title="Guarantees" href="../architecture/guarantees.html"/>
'
doc-search-path: "../search.html"

extra-footer: '
<script type="text/javascript">
    var DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS = {
      URL_ROOT:    "",
      VERSION:     "",
      COLLAPSE_INDEX: false,
      FILE_SUFFIX: ".html",
      HAS_SOURCE:  false,
      SOURCELINK_SUFFIX: ".txt"
    };
</script>
'

---
<div class="container-fluid">
  <div class="row">
    <div class="col-md-3">
      <div class="doc-navigation">
        <div class="doc-menu" role="navigation">
          <div class="navbar-header">
            <button type="button" class="pull-left navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".sidebar-navbar-collapse">
              <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span>
              <span class="icon-bar"></span>
              <span class="icon-bar"></span>
              <span class="icon-bar"></span>
            </button>
          </div>
          <div class="navbar-collapse collapse sidebar-navbar-collapse">
            <form id="doc-search-form" class="navbar-form" action="../search.html" method="get" role="search">
              <div class="form-group">
                <input type="text" size="30" class="form-control input-sm" name="q" placeholder="Search docs">
                <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" />
                <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" />
              </div>
            </form>
            
            
            <ul class="current">
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../getting_started/index.html">Getting Started</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../new/index.html">New Features in Apache Cassandra 4.0</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../architecture/index.html">Architecture</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1 current"><a class="current reference internal" href="#">The Cassandra Query Language (CQL)</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html">Definitions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html">Data Types</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html">Data Definition</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="dml.html">Data Manipulation</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="indexes.html">Secondary Indexes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="mvs.html">Materialized Views</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="security.html">Security</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="functions.html">Functions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="operators.html">Arithmetic Operators</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="json.html">JSON Support</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="triggers.html">Triggers</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="appendices.html">Appendices</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html">Changes</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../data_modeling/index.html">Data Modeling</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../configuration/index.html">Configuring Cassandra</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../operating/index.html">Operating Cassandra</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../tools/index.html">Cassandra Tools</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../troubleshooting/index.html">Troubleshooting</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../development/index.html">Contributing to Cassandra</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../faq/index.html">Frequently Asked Questions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../plugins/index.html">Third-Party Plugins</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../bugs.html">Reporting Bugs</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../contactus.html">Contact us</a></li>
</ul>

            
          </div><!--/.nav-collapse -->
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-8">
      <div class="content doc-content">
        <div class="content-container">
          
  <div class="section" id="the-cassandra-query-language-cql">
<span id="cql"></span><h1>The Cassandra Query Language (CQL)<a class="headerlink" href="#the-cassandra-query-language-cql" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>This document describes the Cassandra Query Language (CQL) <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id2" id="id1">[1]</a>. Note that this document describes the last version of
the languages. However, the <a class="reference external" href="#changes">changes</a> section provides the diff between the different versions of CQL.</p>
<p>CQL offers a model close to SQL in the sense that data is put in <em>tables</em> containing <em>rows</em> of <em>columns</em>. For
that reason, when used in this document, these terms (tables, rows and columns) have the same definition than they have
in SQL.</p>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html">Definitions</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html#conventions">Conventions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html#identifiers">Identifiers and keywords</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html#constants">Constants</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html#terms">Terms</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html#comments">Comments</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html#statements">Statements</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="definitions.html#prepared-statements">Prepared Statements</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html">Data Types</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#native-types">Native Types</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#working-with-timestamps">Working with timestamps</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#working-with-dates">Working with dates</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#working-with-times">Working with times</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#working-with-durations">Working with durations</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#collections">Collections</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#user-defined-types">User-Defined Types</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#tuples">Tuples</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="types.html#custom-types">Custom Types</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html">Data Definition</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#common-definitions">Common definitions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#create-keyspace">CREATE KEYSPACE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#use">USE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#alter-keyspace">ALTER KEYSPACE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#drop-keyspace">DROP KEYSPACE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#create-table">CREATE TABLE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#alter-table">ALTER TABLE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#drop-table">DROP TABLE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="ddl.html#truncate">TRUNCATE</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="dml.html">Data Manipulation</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="dml.html#select">SELECT</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="dml.html#insert">INSERT</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="dml.html#update">UPDATE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="dml.html#delete">DELETE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="dml.html#batch">BATCH</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="indexes.html">Secondary Indexes</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="indexes.html#create-index">CREATE INDEX</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="indexes.html#drop-index">DROP INDEX</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="mvs.html">Materialized Views</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="mvs.html#create-materialized-view">CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="mvs.html#alter-materialized-view">ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="mvs.html#drop-materialized-view">DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="security.html">Security</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="security.html#database-roles">Database Roles</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="security.html#users">Users</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="security.html#data-control">Data Control</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="functions.html">Functions</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#scalar-functions">Scalar functions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#aggregate-functions">Aggregate functions</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="operators.html">Arithmetic Operators</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="operators.html#number-arithmetic">Number Arithmetic</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="operators.html#datetime-arithmetic">Datetime Arithmetic</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="json.html">JSON Support</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="json.html#select-json">SELECT JSON</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="json.html#insert-json">INSERT JSON</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="json.html#json-encoding-of-cassandra-data-types">JSON Encoding of Cassandra Data Types</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="json.html#the-fromjson-function">The fromJson() Function</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="json.html#the-tojson-function">The toJson() Function</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="triggers.html">Triggers</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="triggers.html#create-trigger">CREATE TRIGGER</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="triggers.html#drop-trigger">DROP TRIGGER</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="appendices.html">Appendices</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="appendices.html#appendix-a-cql-keywords">Appendix A: CQL Keywords</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="appendices.html#appendix-b-cql-reserved-types">Appendix B: CQL Reserved Types</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="appendices.html#appendix-c-dropping-compact-storage">Appendix C: Dropping Compact Storage</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html">Changes</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id1">3.4.5</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id2">3.4.4</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id3">3.4.3</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id6">3.4.2</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id7">3.4.1</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id8">3.4.0</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id9">3.3.1</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id10">3.3.0</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id11">3.2.0</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id12">3.1.7</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id13">3.1.6</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id14">3.1.5</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id15">3.1.4</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id16">3.1.3</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id17">3.1.2</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id18">3.1.1</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id19">3.1.0</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id20">3.0.5</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id21">3.0.4</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id22">3.0.3</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id23">3.0.2</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#id24">3.0.1</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="changes.html#versioning">Versioning</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id2" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td>Technically, this document CQL version 3, which is not backward compatible with CQL version 1 and 2 (which have
been deprecated and remove) and differs from it in numerous ways.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>


          <div class="doc-prev-next-links" role="navigation" aria-label="footer navigation">
            
            <a href="definitions.html" class="btn btn-default pull-right " role="button" title="Definitions" accesskey="n">Next <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-circle-arrow-right" aria-hidden="true"></span></a>
            
            
            <a href="../architecture/guarantees.html" class="btn btn-default" role="button" title="Guarantees" accesskey="p"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-circle-arrow-left" aria-hidden="true"></span> Previous</a>
            
          </div>
          
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>