Reserved words

Some keywords in SQL are also reserved words. To use a reserved word in a SQL statement as an identifier, enclose it in double quotes, square brackets or back quotes. Many of the keywords that appear in SQL statements are reserved words. For example, use the following syntax to retrieve the contents of a table named SELECT.

SELECT *
   FROM "SELECT"

SQL keywords are not case sensitive and the following words may appear in uppercase, lowercase, or any combination of the two. All strings that differ only in capitalization from one of the following words are reserved words.

You can also turn off keywords using the non_keywords option.

The reserved_keywords option turns on individual keywords that are disabled by default.

If you are using embedded SQL, you can use the sql_needs_quotes database library function to determine whether a string requires quotation marks. A string requires quotes if it is a reserved word or if it contains a character not ordinarily allowed in an identifier.

You can obtain a list of the reserved words using the sa_reserved_words system procedure.

The reserved SQL keywords in SQL Anywhere are:

add	all	alter	and
any	array	as	asc
attach	backup	begin	between
bigint	binary	bit	bottom
break	by	call	capability
cascade	case	cast	char
char_convert	character	check	checkpoint
close	comment	commit	compressed
conflict	connect	constraint	contains
continue	convert	create	cross
cube	current	current_timestamp	current_user
cursor	date	datetimeoffset	dbspace
deallocate	dec	decimal	declare
default	delete	deleting	desc
detach	distinct	do	double
drop	dynamic	else	elseif
encrypted	end	endif	escape
except	exception	exec	execute
existing	exists	externlogin	fetch
first	float	for	force
foreign	forward	from	full
goto	grant	group	having
holdlock	identified	if	in
index	inner	inout	insensitive
insert	inserting	install	instead
int	integer	integrated	intersect
into	is	isolation	join
json	kerberos	key	lateral
left	like	limit	lock
login	long	match	membership
merge	message	mode	modify
natural	nchar	new	no
noholdlock	not	notify	null
numeric	nvarchar	of	off
on	open	openstring	openxml
option	options	or	order
others	out	outer	over
passthrough	precision	prepare	primary
print	privileges	proc	procedure
publication	raiserror	readtext	real
reference	references	refresh	release
remote	remove	rename	reorganize
resource	restore	restrict	return
revoke	right	rollback	rollup
row	rowtype	save	savepoint
scroll	select	sensitive	session
set	setuser	share	smallint
some	spatial	sqlcode	sqlstate
start	stop	subtrans	subtransaction
synchronize	table	temporary	then
time	timestamp	tinyint	to
top	tran	treat	trigger
truncate	tsequal	unbounded	union
unique	uniqueidentifier	unknown	unnest
unsigned	update	updating	user
using	validate	values	varbinary
varbit	varchar	variable	varray
varying	view	wait	waitfor
when	where	while	window
with	within	work	writetext
xml

Reserved words

See also