Reserved words

Some keywords in SQL are also reserved words. To use a reserved word in a SQL statement as an identifier, you must enclose it in double quotes, square brackets or back quotes. Many, but not all, the keywords that appear in SQL statements are reserved words. For example, you must 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	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	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	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	unsigned
update	updating	user	using
validate	values	varbinary	varbit
varchar	variable	varying	view
wait	waitfor	when	where
while	window	with	within
work	writetext	xml

Reserved words

See also