Hide navigation sidebar
Hide table of contents sidebar
Back to top
Toggle table of contents sidebar

# Emulate SQL

agate’s command structure is very similar to SQL. The primary difference between agate and SQL is that commands like `SELECT` and `WHERE` explicitly create new tables. You can chain them together as you would with SQL, but be aware each command is actually creating a new table.

Note

All examples in this section use the PostgreSQL dialect for comparison.

If you want to read and write data from SQL, see From a SQL database.

## SELECT

SQL:

    SELECT state, total FROM table;

agate:

    new_table = table.select(['state', 'total'])

## WHERE

SQL:

    SELECT * FROM table WHERE LOWER(state) = 'california';

agate:

    new_table = table.where(lambda row: row['state'].lower() == 'california')

## ORDER BY

SQL:

    SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY total DESC;

agate:

    new_table = table.order_by(lambda row: row['total'], reverse=True)

## DISTINCT

SQL:

    SELECT DISTINCT ON (state) * FROM table;

agate:

    new_table = table.distinct('state')

Note

Unlike most SQL implementations, agate always returns the full row. Use `Table.select()` if you want to filter the columns first.

## INNER JOIN

SQL (two ways):

    SELECT * FROM patient, doctor WHERE patient.doctor = doctor.id;

    SELECT * FROM patient INNER JOIN doctor ON (patient.doctor = doctor.id);

agate:

    joined = patients.join(doctors, 'doctor', 'id', inner=True)

## LEFT OUTER JOIN

SQL:

    SELECT * FROM patient LEFT OUTER JOIN doctor ON (patient.doctor = doctor.id);

agate:

    joined = patients.join(doctors, 'doctor', 'id')

## FULL OUTER JOIN

SQL:

    SELECT * FROM patient FULL OUTER JOIN doctor ON (patient.doctor = doctor.id);

agate:

    joined = patients.join(doctors, 'doctor', 'id', full_outer=True)

## GROUP BY

agate’s `Table.group_by()` works slightly different than SQLs. It does not require an aggregate function. Instead it returns `TableSet`. To see how to perform the equivalent of a SQL aggregate, see below.

    doctors = patients.group_by('doctor')

You can group by two or more columns by chaining the command.

    doctors_by_state = patients.group_by('state').group_by('doctor')

## HAVING

agate’s `TableSet.having()` works very similar to SQL’s keyword of the same name.

    doctors = patients.group_by('doctor')
    popular_doctors = doctors.having([
        ('patient_count', Count())
    ], lambda t: t['patient_count'] > 100)

This filters to only those doctors whose table includes at least 100 results. Can add as many aggregations as you want to the list and each will be available, by name in the test function you pass.

For example, here we filter to popular doctors with more an average review of at least three stars:

    doctors = patients.group_by('doctor')
    popular_doctors = doctors.having([
        ('patient_count', Count()),
        ('average_stars', Average('stars'))
    ], lambda t: t['patient_count'] > 100 and t['average_stars'] >= 3)

## Chain commands together

SQL:

    SELECT state, total FROM table WHERE LOWER(state) = 'california' ORDER BY total DESC;

agate:

    new_table = table \
        .select(['state', 'total']) \
        .where(lambda row: row['state'].lower() == 'california') \
        .order_by('total', reverse=True)

Note

Chaining commands in this way is sometimes not a good idea. Being explicit about each step can lead to clearer code.

## Aggregate functions

SQL:

    SELECT mean(age), median(age) FROM patients GROUP BY doctor;

agate:

    doctors = patients.group_by('doctor')
    patient_ages = doctors.aggregate([
        ('patient_count', agate.Count()),
        ('age_mean', agate.Mean('age')),
        ('age_median', agate.Median('age'))
    ])

The resulting table will have four columns: `doctor`, `patient_count`, `age_mean` and `age_median`.