format_sql

Introduction#

format_sql is most useful as the second step in a parse-then-reconstruct pipeline: first parse a SQL string into a structured dictionary with parse_sql, optionally inspect or transform the result, and then call format_sql to produce a clean, normalized SQL string.

Usage#

Syntax#

format_sql(parsed_sql_model)

Parameters#

Name	Type	Required	Description
parsed_sql_model	dictionary	Yes	The structured data model returned by `parse_sql`.

Returns#

A string containing the SQL statement reconstructed from the provided data model.

Example#

Parse a SQL query representing a slow-query log entry and reconstruct it to verify the round-trip.

Query

print formatted = format_sql(parse_sql('SELECT id, status, uri FROM requests WHERE req_duration_ms > 1000 ORDER BY req_duration_ms DESC'))

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Output

{
    "formatted": "select id, status, uri from requests where req_duration_ms > 1000 order by req_duration_ms desc"
}

The query parses the SQL string and then reconstructs it with format_sql, confirming that the parse-and-reconstruct pipeline preserves the original statement's structure.

parse_sql: Parses a SQL statement string into a structured dictionary. format_sql is the inverse of parse_sql.
parse_json: Parses a JSON string into a dynamic dictionary. Use parse_json when your data contains JSON rather than SQL.

Other query languages#

Splunk SPL users

Splunk has no equivalent to format_sql. There is no native way in SPL to reconstruct a SQL string from a parsed representation. In APL, format_sql takes the output of parse_sql and reconstructs the original SQL statement.

Splunk example

-- No direct Splunk equivalent

APL equivalent

['sample-http-logs']
| take 1
| extend parsed = parse_sql('SELECT id, status FROM logs WHERE status = 500')
| project formatted = format_sql(parsed)

ANSI SQL users

ANSI SQL has no built-in function to reconstruct a SQL string from a parsed representation. format_sql is unique to APL and works as the inverse of parse_sql.

SQL example

-- No direct SQL equivalent