Awesome
pg_query
This Ruby extension uses the actual PostgreSQL server source to parse SQL queries and return the internal PostgreSQL parsetree.
In addition the extension allows you to normalize queries (replacing constant values with $n) and parse these normalized queries into a parsetree again.
When you build this extension, it builds parts of the PostgreSQL server source (see libpg_query), and then statically links it into this extension.
This may seem like a lot of complexity, but is the only reliable way of parsing all valid PostgreSQL queries.
You can find further examples and a longer rationale here: https://pganalyze.com/blog/parse-postgresql-queries-in-ruby.html
Installation
gem install pg_query
Due to compiling parts of PostgreSQL, installation might take a while on slower systems. Expect up to 5 minutes.
Usage
Parsing a query
PgQuery.parse("SELECT 1")
=> #<PgQuery::ParserResult:0x000000012ec4e9e0
@query="SELECT 1",
@tree=<PgQuery::ParseResult:
version: 160001,
stmts: [
<PgQuery::RawStmt:
stmt: <PgQuery::Node:
select_stmt: <PgQuery::SelectStmt:
distinct_clause: [],
target_list: [
<PgQuery::Node:
res_target: <PgQuery::ResTarget:
name: "",
indirection: [],
val: <PgQuery::Node:
a_const: <PgQuery::A_Const:
ival: <PgQuery::Integer: ival: 1>,
isnull: false,
location: 7
>
>,
location: 7
>
>
],
from_clause: [],
group_clause: [],
group_distinct: false,
window_clause: [],
values_lists: [],
sort_clause: [],
limit_option: :LIMIT_OPTION_DEFAULT,
locking_clause: [],
op: :SETOP_NONE,
all: false
>
>,
stmt_location: 0,
stmt_len: 0
>
]
>,
@warnings=[],
@tables=nil,
@aliases=nil,
@cte_names=nil,
@functions=nil
>
Modifying a parsed query and turning it into SQL again
This is a simple example for deparse
, for more complex modification, use walk!
.
parsed_query = PgQuery.parse("SELECT * FROM users")
# Modify the parse tree in some way
parsed_query.tree.stmts[0].stmt.select_stmt.from_clause[0].range_var.relname = 'other_users'
# Turn it into SQL again
parsed_query.deparse
=> "SELECT * FROM other_users"
Parsing a normalized query
# Normalizing a query (like pg_stat_statements in Postgres 10+)
PgQuery.normalize("SELECT 1 FROM x WHERE y = 'foo'")
=> "SELECT $1 FROM x WHERE y = $2"
Extracting tables from a query
PgQuery.parse("SELECT $1 FROM x JOIN y USING (id) WHERE z = $2").tables
=> ["x", "y"]
Extracting columns from a query
PgQuery.parse("SELECT $1 FROM x WHERE x.y = $2 AND z = $3").filter_columns
=> [["x", "y"], [nil, "z"]]
Fingerprinting a query
PgQuery.parse("SELECT 1").fingerprint
=> "50fde20626009aba"
PgQuery.parse("SELECT 2; --- comment").fingerprint
=> "50fde20626009aba"
# Faster fingerprint method that is implemented inside the native C library
PgQuery.fingerprint("SELECT $1")
=> "50fde20626009aba"
Scanning a query into tokens
PgQuery.scan('SELECT 1 --comment')
=> [<PgQuery::ScanResult: version: 160001, tokens: [
<PgQuery::ScanToken: start: 0, end: 6, token: :SELECT, keyword_kind: :RESERVED_KEYWORD>,
<PgQuery::ScanToken: start: 7, end: 8, token: :ICONST, keyword_kind: :NO_KEYWORD>,
<PgQuery::ScanToken: start: 9, end: 18, token: :SQL_COMMENT, keyword_kind: :NO_KEYWORD>]>,
[]]
Walking the parse tree
For generalized use, PgQuery provides walk!
as a means to recursively work with the parsed query.
This can be used to create a bespoke pretty printer:
parsed_query = PgQuery.parse "SELECT * FROM tbl"
parsed_query.walk! { |node, k, v, location| puts k }
More usefully, this can be used to rewrite a query. For example:
parsed_query.walk! do |node, k, v, location|
next unless k.eql?(:range_var) || k.eql?(:relation)
next if v.relname.nil?
v.relname = "X_" + v.relname
end
parsed_query.deparse
There are some caveats, and limitations, in this example.
First, some of the tree nodes are frozen. You can replace them, but you cannot modify in place.
Second, table rewriting is a bit more nuanced than this example. While this will rewrite the table names, it will not correctly handle all CTEs, or rewrite columns with explicit table names.
Supported Ruby Versions
Currently tested and officially supported Ruby versions:
- CRuby 2.6
- CRuby 2.7
- CRuby 3.0
- CRuby 3.1
- CRuby 3.2
Not supported:
- JRuby:
pg_query
relies on a C extension, which is discouraged / not properly supported for JRuby - TruffleRuby: GraalVM does not support sigjmp, which is used by the Postgres error handling code (
pg_query
uses a copy of the Postgres parser & error handling code)
Developer tasks
Update libpg_query source
In order to update to a newer Postgres parser, first update libpg_query to the new Postgres version and tag a release.
Once that is done, follow the following steps:
-
Update
LIB_PG_QUERY_TAG
andLIB_PG_QUERY_SHA256SUM
inRakefile
-
Run
rake update_source
to update the source code -
Commit the
Rakefile
and the modified files inext/pg_query
to this source tree and make a PR
Resources
See libpg_query for pg_query in other languages, as well as products/tools built on pg_query.
Original Author
Special Thanks to
- Jack Danger Canty, for significantly improving deparsing
License
PostgreSQL server source code, used under the PostgreSQL license.<br> Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2023, The PostgreSQL Global Development Group<br> Portions Copyright (c) 1994, The Regents of the University of California
All other parts are licensed under the 3-clause BSD license, see LICENSE file for details.<br> Copyright (c) 2015, Lukas Fittl lukas@fittl.com<br> Copyright (c) 2016-2023, Duboce Labs, Inc. (pganalyze) team@pganalyze.com