docs/32.0.0/querying/sql-query-context.md

---
id: sql-query-context
title: "SQL query context"
sidebar_label: "SQL query context"
---

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:::info
 Apache Druid supports two query languages: Druid SQL and [native queries](querying.md).
 This document describes the SQL language.
:::

Druid supports query context parameters which affect [SQL query](./sql.md) planning.
See [Query context](query-context.md) for general query context parameters for all query types.

## SQL query context parameters

The following table lists query context parameters you can use to configure Druid SQL planning.
You can override a parameter's default value by setting a runtime property in the format `druid.query.default.context.{query_context_key}`.
For more information, see [Overriding default query context values](../configuration/index.md#overriding-default-query-context-values).

|Parameter|Description|Default value|
|---------|-----------|-------------|
|`sqlQueryId`|SQL query ID. For HTTP client, Druid returns it in the `X-Druid-SQL-Query-Id` header.<br/><br/>To specify a SQL query ID, use `sqlQueryId` instead of [`queryId`](query-context.md). Setting `queryId` for a SQL request has no effect. All native queries underlying SQL use an auto-generated `queryId`.|auto-generated|
|`sqlTimeZone`|Time zone for a connection. For example, "America/Los_Angeles" or an offset like "-08:00". This parameter affects how time functions and timestamp literals behave. |UTC|
|`sqlStringifyArrays`|If `true`, Druid serializes result columns with array values as JSON strings in the response instead of arrays.|`true`, except for JDBC connections, where it's always `false`|
|`useApproximateCountDistinct`|Whether to use an approximate cardinality algorithm for `COUNT(DISTINCT foo)`.|`true`|
|`useGroupingSetForExactDistinct`|Whether to use grouping sets to execute queries with multiple exact distinct aggregations.|`false`|
|`useApproximateTopN`|If `true`, Druid converts SQL queries to approximate [TopN queries](topnquery.md) wherever possible. If `false`, Druid uses exact [GroupBy queries](groupbyquery.md) instead.|`true`|
|`enableTimeBoundaryPlanning`|If `true`, Druid converts SQL queries to [time boundary queries](timeboundaryquery.md) wherever possible. Time boundary queries are very efficient for min-max calculation on the `__time` column in a datasource. |`false`|
|`useNativeQueryExplain`|If `true`, `EXPLAIN PLAN FOR` returns the explain plan as a JSON representation of equivalent native query, else it returns the original version of explain plan generated by Calcite.<br /><br />This property is provided for backwards compatibility. We don't recommend setting this parameter unless your application depends on the older behavior.|`true`|
|`sqlFinalizeOuterSketches`|If `false` (default behavior in Druid 25.0.0 and later), `DS_HLL`, `DS_THETA`, and `DS_QUANTILES_SKETCH` return sketches in query results. If `true` (default behavior in Druid 24.0.1 and earlier), Druid finalizes sketches from these functions when they appear in query results.<br /><br />This property is provided for backwards compatibility with behavior in Druid 24.0.1 and earlier. We don't recommend setting this parameter unless your application uses Druid 24.0.1 or earlier. Instead, use a function that doesn't return a sketch, such as `APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT_DS_HLL`, `APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT_DS_THETA`, `APPROX_QUANTILE_DS`, `DS_THETA_ESTIMATE`, or `DS_GET_QUANTILE`.|`false`|
|`sqlUseBoundAndSelectors`|If `false` (default behavior in Druid 27.0.0 and later), the SQL planner uses [equality](./filters.md#equality-filter), [null](./filters.md#null-filter), and [range](./filters.md#range-filter) filters instead of [selector](./filters.md#selector-filter) and [bounds](./filters.md#bound-filter). For filtering `ARRAY` typed values, `sqlUseBoundAndSelectors` must be `false`. | `false`.|
|`sqlReverseLookup`|Whether to consider the [reverse-lookup rewrite](lookups.md#reverse-lookup) of the `LOOKUP` function during SQL planning.<br /><br />Druid reverses calls to `LOOKUP` only when the number of matching keys is lower than both `inSubQueryThreshold` and `sqlReverseLookupThreshold`.|`true`|
|`sqlReverseLookupThreshold`|Maximum size of `IN` filter to create when applying a [reverse-lookup rewrite](lookups.md#reverse-lookup). If a `LOOKUP` call matches more keys than the specified threshold, it remains unchanged.<br /><br />If `inSubQueryThreshold` is lower than `sqlReverseLookupThreshold`, Druid uses `inSubQueryThreshold` threshold instead.|10000|
|`sqlPullUpLookup`|Whether to consider the [pull-up rewrite](lookups.md#pull-up) of the `LOOKUP` function during SQL planning.|`true`|
|`enableJoinLeftTableScanDirect`|This parameter applies to queries with joins. By default, when the left child is a simple scan with a filter, Druid runs the scan as a query, then joins it with the right child on the Broker. Setting this parameter to `true` overrides that behavior and pushes the join to the data servers instead. Even if a query doesn't explicitly include a join, this parameter may still apply since the SQL planner can translate the query into a join internally.|`false`|
|`maxNumericInFilters`|Max limit for the amount of numeric values that Druid can compare for a string type dimension when the entire SQL WHERE clause of a query translates only to an [OR](../querying/filters.md#or) of [bound filter](../querying/filters.md#bound-filter). By default, Druid doesn't restrict the amount of numeric bound filters on string columns, although this situation may block other queries from running. Set this parameter to a smaller value to prevent Druid from running queries that have prohibitively long segment processing times. The optimal limit requires some trial and error. We recommend starting with 100. Users who submit a query that exceeds the limit of `maxNumericInFilters` should rewrite their queries to use strings in the `WHERE` clause instead of numbers. For example, `WHERE someString IN (‘123’, ‘456’)`. This value can't exceed the set system configuration `druid.sql.planner.maxNumericInFilters`. If `druid.sql.planner.maxNumericInFilters` isn't set explicitly, Druid ignores this value.|`-1`|
|`inFunctionThreshold`| At or beyond this threshold number of values, Druid converts SQL `IN` to [`SCALAR_IN_ARRAY`](sql-functions.md#scalar_in_array). A threshold of 0 forces this conversion in all cases. A threshold of `Integer.MAX_VALUE` disables this conversion. The converted function is eligible for fewer planning-time optimizations, which speeds up planning, but may prevent certain planning-time optimizations.| `100`|
|`inFunctionExprThreshold`|At or beyond this threshold number of values, SQL `IN` is eligible for execution using the native function `scalar_in_array` rather than an <code>&#124;&#124;</code> of `==`, even if the number of values is below `inFunctionThreshold`. This property only affects translation of SQL `IN` to a [native expression](math-expr.md). It doesn't affect translation of SQL `IN` to a [native filter](filters.md). This property is provided for backwards compatibility purposes, and may be removed in a future release.|`2`|
|`inSubQueryThreshold`|At or beyond this threshold number of values, Druid converts SQL `IN` to `JOIN` on an inline table. `inFunctionThreshold` takes priority over this setting. A threshold of 0 forces usage of an inline table in all cases where the size of a SQL `IN` is larger than `inFunctionThreshold`. A threshold of `2147483647` disables the rewrite of SQL `IN` to `JOIN`. |`2147483647`|

## Set the query context

You can configure query context parameters in the `context` object of the [JSON API](../api-reference/sql-api.md) or as a [JDBC connection properties object](../api-reference/sql-jdbc.md).

The following example shows how to set a query context parameter using the JSON API:

```
{
  "query" : "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM data_source WHERE foo = 'bar' AND __time > TIMESTAMP '2000-01-01 00:00:00'",
  "context" : {
    "sqlTimeZone" : "America/Los_Angeles"
  }
}
```

The following example shows how to set query context parameters using JDBC:

```java
String url = "jdbc:avatica:remote:url=http://localhost:8082/druid/v2/sql/avatica/";

// Set any query context parameters you need here.
Properties connectionProperties = new Properties();
connectionProperties.setProperty("sqlTimeZone", "America/Los_Angeles");
connectionProperties.setProperty("useCache", "false");

try (Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, connectionProperties)) {
  // create and execute statements, process result sets, etc
}
```