2. JPQL Language Reference
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## 2. JPQL Language Reference

The Java Persistence Query Language (JPQL) is used to define searches against persistent entities independent of the mechanism used to store those entities. As such, JPQL is "portable", and not constrained to any particular data store. The Java Persistence query language is an extension of the Enterprise JavaBeans query language, `EJB QL`, adding operations such as bulk deletes and updates, join operations, aggregates, projections, and subqueries. Furthermore, JPQL queries can be declared statically in metadata, or can be dynamically built in code. This chapter provides the full definition of the language.

### Note

Much of this section is paraphrased or taken directly from Chapter 4 of the JSR 317 Java Persistence API Specification.

### 2.1. JPQL Statement Types

A JPQL statement may be either a `SELECT` statement, an `UPDATE` statement, or a `DELETE` statement. This chapter refers to all such statements as "queries". Where it is important to distinguish among statement types, the specific statement type is referenced. In BNF syntax, a query language statement is defined as:

- QL_statement ::= select_statement | update_statement | delete_statement

The complete BNF for JPQL is defined in Section 2.13, “ JPQL BNF ”. Any JPQL statement may be constructed dynamically or may be statically defined in a metadata annotation or XML descriptor element. All statement types may have parameters, as discussed in Section 2.5.4, “ JPQL Input Parameters ”.

#### 2.1.1. JPQL Select Statement

A select statement is a string which consists of the following clauses:

- a `SELECT` clause, which determines the type of the objects or values to be selected.

- a `FROM` clause, which provides declarations that designate the domain to which the expressions specified in the other clauses of the query apply.

- an optional `WHERE` clause, which may be used to restrict the results that are returned by the query.

- an optional `GROUP BY` clause, which allows query results to be aggregated in terms of groups.

- an optional `HAVING` clause, which allows filtering over aggregated groups.

- an optional `ORDER BY` clause, which may be used to order the results that are returned by the query.

In BNF syntax, a select statement is defined as:

- select_statement ::= select_clause from_clause [where_clause] [groupby_clause] [having_clause] [orderby_clause]

A select statement must always have a `SELECT` and a `FROM` clause. The square brackets [] indicate that the other clauses are optional.

#### 2.1.2. JPQL Update and Delete Statements

Update and delete statements provide bulk operations over sets of entities. In BNF syntax, these operations are defined as:

- update_statement ::= update_clause [where_clause]

- delete_statement ::= delete_clause [where_clause]

The update and delete clauses determine the type of the entities to be updated or deleted. The `WHERE` clause may be used to restrict the scope of the update or delete operation. Update and delete statements are described further in Section 2.10, “ JPQL Bulk Update and Delete ”.

### 2.2. JPQL Abstract Schema Types and Query Domains

The Java Persistence query language is a typed language, and every expression has a type. The type of an expression is derived from the structure of the expression, the abstract schema types of the identification variable declarations, the types to which the persistent fields and relationships evaluate, and the types of literals.

The abstract schema type of an entity or embeddable is derived from the entity class and the metadata information provided by Java language annotations or in the XML descriptor.

Informally, the abstract schema type of an entity or embeddable can be characterized as follows:

- For every persistent field or get accessor method (for a persistent property) of the entity class, there is a field ("state-field") whose abstract schema type corresponds to that of the field or the result type of the accessor method.

- For every persistent relationship field or get accessor method (for a persistent relationship property) of the entity class, there is a field ("association-field") whose type is the abstract schema type of the related entity (or, if the relationship is a one-to-many or many-to-many, a collection of such).

Abstract schema types are specific to the query language data model. The persistence provider is not required to implement or otherwise materialize an abstract schema type.

The domain of a query consists of the abstract schema types of all entities and embeddables that are defined in the same persistence unit.

The domain of a query may be restricted by the `navigability` of the relationships of the entity and associated embeddable classes on which it is based. The association-fields of an entity's or embeddable's abstract schema type determine navigability. Using the association fields and their values, a query can select related entities and use their abstract schema types in the query.

#### 2.2.1. JPQL Entity Naming

Entities are designated in query strings by their entity names. The entity name is defined by the name element of the Entity annotation (or the entity-name XML descriptor element), and defaults to the unqualified name of the entity class. Entity names are scoped within the persistence unit and must be unique within the persistence unit.

#### 2.2.2. JPQL Schema Example

This example assumes that the application developer provides several entity classes, representing magazines, publishers, authors, and articles. The abstract schema types for these entities are `Magazine`, `Publisher`, `Author`, and `Article`.

Several Entities with Abstract Persistence Schemas Defined in the Same Persistence Unit. The entity `Publisher` has a one-to-many relationships with `Magazine`. There is also a one-to-many relationship between `Magazine` and `Article` . The entity `Article` is related to `Author` in a one-to-one relationship.

Queries to select magazines can be defined by navigating over the association-fields and state-fields defined by `Magazine` and `Author`. A query to find all magazines that have unpublished articles is as follows:

    SELECT DISTINCT mag FROM Magazine AS mag JOIN mag.articles AS art WHERE art.published = FALSE

This query navigates over the association-field `authors` of the abstract schema type `Magazine` to find articles, and uses the state-field `published` of `Article` to select those magazines that have at least one article that is not published. Although predefined reserved identifiers, such as `DISTINCT`, `FROM`, `AS`, `JOIN`, `WHERE`, and `FALSE` appear in upper case in this example, predefined reserved identifiers are case insensitive.

The `SELECT` clause of this example designates the return type of this query to be of type `Magazine`.

Because the same persistence unit defines the abstract persistence schemas of the related entities, the developer can also specify a query over articles that utilizes the abstract schema type for products, and hence the state-fields and association-fields of both the abstract schema types `Magazine` and `Author`. For example, if the abstract schema type `Author` has a state-field named `firstName`, a query over articles can be specified using this state-field. Such a query might be to find all magazines that have articles authored by someone with the first name "John".

    SELECT DISTINCT mag FROM Magazine mag JOIN mag.articles art JOIN art.author auth WHERE auth.firstName = 'John'

Because `Magazine` is related to `Author` by means of the relationships between `Magazine` and `Article` and between `Article` and `Author`, navigation using the association-fields `authors` and `product` is used to express the query. This query is specified by using the abstract schema name `Magazine`, which designates the abstract schema type over which the query ranges. The basis for the navigation is provided by the association-fields `authors` and `product` of the abstract schema types `Magazine` and `Article` respectively.

### 2.3. JPQL FROM Clause and Navigational Declarations

The `FROM` clause of a query defines the domain of the query by declaring identification variables. An identification variable is an identifier declared in the `FROM` clause of a query. The domain of the query may be constrained by path expressions (See section Section 2.3.4, “ JPQL Path Expressions ”.

Identification variables designate instances of a particular entity abstract schema type. The `FROM` clause can contain multiple identification variable declarations separated by a comma (,).

- from_clause ::= FROM identification_variable_declaration {, {identification_variable_declaration | collection_member_declaration}}*

- identification_variable_declaration ::= range_variable_declaration { join | fetch_join }*

- range_variable_declaration ::= abstract_schema_name [AS] identification_variable

- join ::= join_spec join_association_path_expression [AS] identification_variable

- fetch_join ::= join_spec FETCH join_association_path_expression

- join_association_path_expression ::= join_collection_valued_path_expression | join_single_valued_association_path_expression

- join_collection_valued_path_expression::= identification_variable.{single_valued_embeddable_object_field.}*collection_valued_field

- join_single_valued_path_expression::= identification_variable.{single_valued_embeddable_object_field.}*single_valued_object_field

- join_spec ::= [ LEFT [OUTER] | INNER ] JOIN

- collection_member_declaration ::= IN (collection_valued_path_expression) [AS] identification_variable

The following subsections discuss the constructs used in the `FROM` clause.

#### 2.3.1. JPQL FROM Identifiers

An identifier is a character sequence of unlimited length. The character sequence must begin with a Java identifier start character, and all other characters must be Java identifier part characters. An identifier start character is any character for which the method `Character.isJavaIdentifierStart` returns `true`. This includes the underscore (_) character and the dollar sign ($) character. An identifier part character is any character for which the method `Character.isJavaIdentifierPart` returns `true`. The question mark (?) character is reserved for use by the Java Persistence query language. The following are reserved identifiers:

- `ABS`

- `ALL`

- `AND`

- `ANY`

- `AS`

- `ASC`

- `AVG`

- `BETWEEN`

- `BOTH`

- `BY`

- `CASE`

- `CLASS`

- `COALESCE`

- `CONCAT`

- `COUNT`

- `CURRENT_DATE`

- `CURRENT_TIME`

- `CURRENT_TIMESTAMP`

- `DELETE`

- `DESC`

- `DISTINCT`

- `ELSE`

- `EMPTY`

- `END`

- `ENTRY`

- `ESCAPE`

- `EXISTS`

- `FALSE`

- `FETCH`

- `FROM`

- `GROUP`

- `HAVING`

- `IN`

- `INDEX`

- `INNER`

- `IS`

- `JOIN`

- `KEY`

- `LEADING`

- `LEFT`

- `LENGTH`

- `LIKE`

- `LOCATE`

- `LOWER`

- `MAX`

- `MEMBER`

- `MIN`

- `MOD`

- `NEW`

- `NOT`

- `NULL`

- `NULLIF`

- `OBJECT`

- `OF`

- `OR`

- `ORDER`

- `OUTER`

- `SELECT`

- `SET`

- `SIZE`

- `SOME`

- `SQRT`

- `SIBSTRING`

- `SUM`

- `THEN`

- `TRAILING`

- `TRIM`

- `TRUE`

- `TYPE`

- `UPDATE`

- `UPPER`

- `VALUE`

- `WHEN`

- `WHERE`

- `CHARACTER_LENGTH`

- `CHAR_LENGTH`

- `BIT_LENGTH`

- `POSITION`

- `UNKNOWN`

Reserved identifiers are case insensitive. Reserved identifiers must not be used as identification variables or result variables.

### Note

It is recommended that other SQL reserved words also not be used as identification variables in queries because they may be used as reserved identifiers in future releases of the specification.

### Note

BIT_LENGTH, CHAR_LENGTH, CHARACTER_LENGTH, POSITION, and UNKNOWN are not currently used: they are reserved for future use.

#### 2.3.2. JPQL Identification Variables

An identification variable is a valid identifier declared in the `FROM` clause of a query.

All identification variables must be declared in the `FROM` clause. Identification variables cannot be declared in other clauses.

An identification variable must not be a reserved identifier or have the same name as any entity in the same persistence unit.

Identification variables are case insensitive.

An identification variable evaluates to a value of the type of the expression used in declaring the variable. For example, consider the previous query:

    SELECT DISTINCT mag FROM Magazine mag JOIN mag.articles art JOIN art.author auth WHERE auth.firstName = 'John'

In the `FROM` clause declaration `mag.articles` `art`, the identification variable `art` evaluates to any `Article` value directly reachable from `Magazine`. The association-field `articles` is a collection of instances of the abstract schema type `Article` and the identification variable `art` refers to an element of this collection. The type of `auth` is the abstract schema type of `Author`.

An identification variable can range over an entity, embeddable, or basic abstract schema type. An identification variable designates an instance of an entity abstract schema type or an element of a collection of entity abstract schema type instances.

Note that for identification variables referring to an instance of an association or collection represented as a `java.util.Map`, the identification variable is of the abstract schema type of the map `value`.

An identification variable always designates a reference to a single value. It is declared in one of three ways: in a range variable declaration, in a join clause, or in a collection member declaration. The identification variable declarations are evaluated from left to right in the `FROM` clause, and an identification variable declaration can use the result of a preceding identification variable declaration of the query string.

All identification variables used in the `SELECT`, `WHERE`, `ORDER BY`, `GROUP BY`, or `HAVING` clause of a `SELECT` or `DELETE` statement must be declared in the `FROM` clause. The identification variables used in the `WHERE` clause of an `UPDATE` statement must be declared in the `UPDATE` clause.

Identification variables are existentially quantified in these clauses. This means that an identification variable represents a member of a collection or an instance of an entity’s abstract schema type. An identification variable never designates a collection in its entirety.

An identification variable is scoped to the query (or subquery) in which it is defined and is also visible to any subqueries within that query scope that do not define an identification variable of the same name.

#### 2.3.3. JPQL Range Declarations

The syntax for declaring an identification variable as a range variable is similar to that of SQL; optionally, it uses the AS keyword. A range variable designates an entity abstract schema type.

### Note

A range variable must not designate an embeddable class abstract schema type.

- range_variable_declaration ::= entity_name [AS] identification_variable

Range variable declarations allow the developer to designate a "root" for objects which may not be reachable by navigation.

In order to select values by comparing more than one instance of an entity abstract schema type, more than one identification variable ranging over the abstract schema type is needed in the `FROM` clause.

The following query returns magazines whose price is greater than the price of magazines published by "Adventure" publishers. This example illustrates the use of two different identification variables in the `FROM` clause, both of the abstract schema type Magazine. The `SELECT` clause of this query determines that it is the magazines with prices greater than those of "Adventure" publisher's that are returned.

    SELECT DISTINCT mag1 FROM Magazine mag1, Magazine mag2
    WHERE mag1.price > mag2.price AND mag2.publisher.name = 'Adventure'

#### 2.3.4. JPQL Path Expressions

An identification variable followed by the navigation operator (.) and a state-field or association-field is a path expression. The type of the path expression is the type computed as the result of navigation; that is, the type of the state-field or association-field to which the expression navigates.

An identification variable qualified by the `KEY`, `VALUE`, or `ENTRY` operator is a path expression. The `KEY`, `VALUE`, and `ENTRY` operators may only be applied to identification variables that correspond to map-valued associations or map-valued element collections. The type of the path expression is the type computed as the result of the operation; that is, the abstract schema type of the field that is the value of the `KEY`, `VALUE`, or `ENTRY` operator (the map key, map value, or map entry respectively).

### Note

Note that use of `VALUE` is optional, as an identification variable referring to an association of type `java.util.Map` is of the abstract schema type of the map value.

The syntax for qualified identification variables is as follows.

- qualified_identification_variable :: = KEY(identification_variable) | VALUE(identification_variable) | ENTRY(identification_variable)

A path expression using the `KEY` or `VALUE` operator may be further composed. A path expression using the `ENTRY` operator is terminal. It cannot be further composed and can only appear in the `SELECT` list of a query.

In the following query, `photos` is a map from photo label to filename.

    SELECT i.name, VALUE(p)
    FROM Item i JOIN i.photos p
    WHERE KEY(p) LIKE ‘egret’

In the above query the identification variable `p` designates an abstract schema type corresponding to the map value. The results of `VALUE(p)` and `KEY(p)` are the map value and the map key associated with p, respectively. The following query is equivalent:

    SELECT i.name, p
    FROM Item i JOIN i.photos p
    WHERE KEY(p) LIKE ‘egret’

Depending on navigability, a path expression that leads to a association-field or to a field whose type is an embeddable class may be further composed. Path expressions can be composed from other path expressions if the original path expression evaluates to a single-valued type (not a collection) corresponding to a association-field.

In the following example, `contactInfo` denotes an embeddable class consisting of an address and set of phones. `Phone` is an entity.

    SELECT p.vendor
    FROM Employee e JOIN e.contactInfo.phones p
    WHERE e.contactInfo.address.zipcode = '95054'

Path expression navigability is composed using "inner join" semantics. That is, if the value of a non-terminal association-field in the path expression is null, the path is considered to have no value, and does not participate in the determination of the result.

The following query is equivalent to the query above:

    SELECT p.vendor
    FROM Employee e JOIN e.contactInfo c JOIN c.phones p
    WHERE e.contactInfo.address.zipcode = '95054'

The syntax for single-valued path expressions and collection valued path expressions is as follows:

- single_valued_path_expression ::= qualified_identification_variable | state_field_path_expression | single_valued_object_path_expression

- state_field_path_expression ::= general_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*state_field

- single_valued_object_path_expression ::= general_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*single_valued_object_field

- collection_valued_path_expression ::= general_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*collection_valued_field

A `single_valued_object_field` is designated by the name of an association-field in a one-to-one or many-to-one relationship or a field of embeddable class type. The type of a `single_valued_object_field` is the abstract schema type of the related entity or embeddable class.

A `state_field` is designated by the name of an entity or embeddable class state field that corresponds to a basic type.

A collection_valued_field is designated by the name of an association-field in a one-to-many or a many-to-many relationship or by the name of an element collection field. The type of a `collection_valued_field` is a collection of values of the abstract schema type of the related entity or element type.

An identification variable used in a `single_valued_object_path_expression` or in a `collection_valued_path_expression` may be an unqualified identification variable or an identification variable to which the KEY or VALUE function has been applied.

- general_identification_variable ::= identification_variable | KEY(identification_variable) | VALUE(identification_variable)

It is syntactically illegal to compose a path expression from a path expression that evaluates to a collection. For example, if `mag` designates `Magazine`, the path expression `mag.articles.author` is illegal since navigation to authors results in a collection. This case should produce an error when the query string is verified. To handle such a navigation, an identification variable must be declared in the `FROM` clause to range over the elements of the `articles` collection. Another path expression must be used to navigate over each such element in the `WHERE` clause of the query, as in the following query which returns all authors that have any articles in any magazines:

    SELECT DISTINCT art.author FROM Magazine AS mag, IN(mag.articles) art

It is illegal to use a `collection_valued_path_expression` other than in the `FROM` clause of a query except in an `empty_collection_comparison_expression`, in a `collection_member_expression`, or as an argument to the `SIZE` operator. See Section 2.5.12, “ JPQL Empty Collection Comparison Expressions ”, Section 2.5.13, “ JPQL Collection Member Expressions ”, and Section 2.6.2.2, “ JPQL Arithmetic Functions ”.

#### 2.3.5. JPQL Joins

An inner join may be implicitly specified by the use of a cartesian product in the `FROM` clause and a join condition in the `WHERE` clause. In the absence of a join condition, this reduces to the cartesian product.

The main use case for this generalized style of join is when a join condition does not involve a foreign key relationship that is mapped to an entity relationship, for example:

    SELECT c FROM Customer c, Employee e WHERE c.hatsize = e.shoesize

In general, use of this style of inner join (also referred to as theta-join) is less typical than explicitly defined joins over relationships.

The syntax for explicit join operations is as follows:

- join ::= join_spec join_association_path_expression [AS] identification_variable

- fetch_join ::= join_spec FETCH join_association_path_expression

- join_association_path_expression ::= join_collection_valued_path_expression | join_single_valued_path_expression

- join_collection_valued_path_expression::= identification_variable.{single_valued_embeddable_object_field.}*collection_valued_field

- join_single_valued_path_expression::= identification_variable.{single_valued_embeddable_object_field.}*single_valued_object_field

- join_spec ::= [ LEFT [OUTER] | INNER ] JOIN

The inner and outer join operation types described in Section 2.3.5.1, “ JPQL Inner Joins (Relationship Joins) ” and Section 2.3.5.2, “ JPQL Outer Joins ” are supported.

##### 2.3.5.1. JPQL Inner Joins (Relationship Joins)

The syntax for the inner join operation is

- [ INNER ] JOIN join_association_path_expression [AS] identification_variable

For example, the query below joins over the relationship between publishers and magazines. This type of join typically equates to a join over a foreign key relationship in the database.

    SELECT pub FROM Publisher pub JOIN pub.magazines mag WHERE pub.revenue > 1000000

The keyword `INNER` may optionally be used:

    SELECT pub FROM Publisher pub INNER JOIN pub.magazines mag WHERE pub.revenue > 1000000

This is equivalent to the following query using the earlier `IN` construct. It selects those publishers with revenue of over 1 million for which at least one magazine exists:

    SELECT OBJECT(pub) FROM Publisher pub, IN(pub.magazines) mag WHERE pub.revenue > 1000000

The query below joins over Employee, ContactInfo and Phone. ContactInfo is an embeddable class that consists of an address and set of phones. Phone is an entity.

    SELECT p.vendor
    FROM Employee e JOIN e.contactInfo c JOIN c.phones p
    WHERE c.address.zipcode = '95054'

##### 2.3.5.2. JPQL Outer Joins

`LEFT JOIN` and `LEFT OUTER JOIN` are synonymous. They enable the retrieval of a set of entities where matching values in the join condition may be absent. The syntax for a left outer join is:

- LEFT [OUTER] JOIN join_association_path_expression [AS] identification_variable

For example:

    SELECT pub FROM Publisher pub LEFT JOIN pub.magazines mag WHERE pub.revenue > 1000000

The keyword `OUTER` may optionally be used:

    SELECT pub FROM Publisher pub LEFT OUTER JOIN pub.magazines mags WHERE pub.revenue > 1000000

An important use case for `LEFT JOIN` is in enabling the prefetching of related data items as a side effect of a query. This is accomplished by specifying the `LEFT JOIN` as a `FETCH JOIN`.

##### 2.3.5.3. JPQL Fetch Joins

A `FETCH JOIN` enables the fetching of an association as a side effect of the execution of a query. A `FETCH JOIN` is specified over an entity and its related entities. The syntax for a fetch join is

- fetch_join ::= [ LEFT [OUTER] | INNER ] JOIN FETCH join_association_path_expression

The association referenced by the right side of the `FETCH JOIN` clause must be an association that belongs to an entity that is returned as a result of the query. It is not permitted to specify an identification variable for the entities referenced by the right side of the `FETCH JOIN` clause, and hence references to the implicitly fetched entities cannot appear elsewhere in the query.

The following query returns a set of magazines. As a side effect, the associated articles for those magazines are also retrieved, even though they are not part of the explicit query result. The persistent fields or properties of the articles that are eagerly fetched are fully initialized. The initialization of the relationship properties of the `articles` that are retrieved is determined by the metadata for the `Article` entity class.

    SELECT mag FROM Magazine mag LEFT JOIN FETCH mag.articles WHERE mag.id = 1

A fetch join has the same join semantics as the corresponding inner or outer join, except that the related objects specified on the right-hand side of the join operation are not returned in the query result or otherwise referenced in the query. Hence, for example, if magazine id 1 has five articles, the above query returns five references to the magazine 1 entity.

The `FETCH JOIN` construct must not be used in the FROM clause of a subquery.

#### 2.3.6. JPQL Collection Member Declarations

An identification variable declared by a `collection_member_declaration` ranges over values of a collection obtained by navigation using a path expression. Such a path expression represents a navigation involving the association-fields of an entity abstract schema type. Because a path expression can be based on another path expression, the navigation can use the association-fields of related entities.

An identification variable of a collection member declaration is declared using a special operator, the reserved identifier `IN` . The argument to the `IN` operator is a collection-valued path expression. The path expression evaluates to a collection type specified as a result of navigation to a collection-valued association-field of an entity or embeddable class abstract schema type.

The syntax for declaring a collection member identification variable is as follows:

- collection_member_declaration ::= IN (collection_valued_path_expression) [AS] identification_variable

For example, the query

    SELECT DISTINCT mag FROM Magazine mag
        JOIN mag.articles art
        JOIN art.author auth
        WHERE auth.lastName = 'Grisham'

can equivalently be expressed as follows, using the `IN` operator:

    SELECT DISTINCT mag FROM Magazine mag,
        IN(mag.articles) art
        WHERE art.author.lastName = 'Grisham'

In this example, `articles` is the name of an association-field whose value is a collection of instances of the abstract schema type `Article`. The identification variable `art` designates a member of this collection, a single `Article` abstract schema type instance. In this example, `mag` is an identification variable of the abstract schema type `Magazine`.

#### 2.3.7. JPQL FROM Clause and SQL

The Java Persistence query language treats the FROM clause similarly to SQL in that the declared identification variables affect the results of the query even if they are not used in the WHERE clause. Application developers should use caution in defining identification variables because the domain of the query can depend on whether there are any values of the declared type.

For example, the `FROM` clause below defines a query over all orders that have line items and existing products. If there are no `Product` instances in the database, the domain of the query is empty and no order is selected.

    SELECT o
    FROM Order AS o JOIN o.lineItems l JOIN l.product p

#### 2.3.8. JPQL Polymorphism

Java Persistence queries are automatically polymorphic. The `FROM` clause of a query designates not only instances of the specific entity classes to which explicitly refers but of subclasses as well. The instances returned by a query include instances of the subclasses that satisfy the query criteria.

Non-polymorphic queries or queries whose polymorphism is restricted can be specified using entity type expressions in the `WHERE` clause to restrict the domain of the query. See Section 2.6.4, “ Entity Type Expressions ”.

### 2.4. JPQL WHERE Clause

The `WHERE` clause of a query consists of a conditional expression used to select objects or values that satisfy the expression. The `WHERE` clause restricts the result of a select statement or the scope of an update or delete operation.

A `WHERE` clause is defined as follows:

- where_clause ::= WHERE conditional_expression

The `GROUP BY` construct enables the aggregation of values according to the properties of an entity class. The `HAVING` construct enables conditions to be specified that further restrict the query result as restrictions upon the groups.

The syntax of the `HAVING` clause is as follows:

- having_clause ::= HAVING conditional_expression

The `GROUP BY` and `HAVING` constructs are further discussed in Section 2.7, “ JPQL GROUP BY, HAVING ”.

### 2.5. JPQL Conditional Expressions

The following sections describe the language constructs that can be used in a conditional expression of the `WHERE` clause or `HAVING` clause.

State-fields that are mapped in serialized form or as LOBs may not be portably used in conditional expressions.

### Note

The implementation is not expected to perform such query operations involving such fields in memory rather than in the database.

#### 2.5.1. JPQL Literals

A string literal is enclosed in single quotes--for example: 'literal'. A string literal that includes a single quote is represented by two single quotes--for example: 'literal''s'. String literals in queries, like Java String literals, use unicode character encoding. The use of Java escape notation is not supported in query string literals.

Exact numeric literals support the use of Java integer literal syntax as well as SQL exact numeric literal syntax.

Approximate literals support the use of Java floating point literal syntax as well as SQL approximate numeric literal syntax.

Enum literals support the use of Java enum literal syntax. The enum class name must be specified.

Appropriate suffixes can be used to indicate the specific type of a numeric literal in accordance with the Java Language Specification. The boolean literals are `TRUE` and `FALSE`. Although predefined reserved literals appear in upper case, they are case insensitive.

The JDBC escape syntax may be used for the specification of date, time, and timestamp literals. For example:

    SELECT o
    FROM Customer c JOIN c.orders o
    WHERE c.name = 'Smith'
    AND o.submissionDate < {d '2008-12-31'}

Date, time, and timestamp literals are passed as is to the JDBC driver in use.

Entity type literals are specified by entity names—for example: `Customer`.

Although reserved literals appear in upper case, they are case insensitive.

#### 2.5.2. JPQL Identification Variables

All identification variables used in the `WHERE` or `HAVING` clause of a `SELECT` or `DELETE` statement must be declared in the `FROM` clause, as described in Section 2.3.2, “ JPQL Identification Variables ”. The identification variables used in the `WHERE` clause of an `UPDATE` statement must be declared in the `UPDATE` clause.

Identification variables are existentially quantified in the `WHERE` and `HAVING` clause. This means that an identification variable represents a member of a collection or an instance of an entity's abstract schema type. An identification variable never designates a collection in its entirety.

#### 2.5.3. JPQL Path Expressions

It is illegal to use a `collection_valued_path_expression` within a `WHERE` or `HAVING` clause as part of a conditional expression except in an `empty_collection_comparison_expression`, in a `collection_member_expression`, or as an argument to the `SIZE` operator.

#### 2.5.4. JPQL Input Parameters

Either positional or named parameters may be used. Positional and named parameters may not be mixed in a single query.

Input parameters can only be used in the `WHERE` clause or `HAVING` clause of a query.

Note that if an input parameter value is null, comparison operations or arithmetic operations involving the input parameter will return an unknown value. See Section 2.11, “ JPQL Null Values ”.

All input parameters must be single-valued, except in IN expressions (see Section 2.5.9, “ JPQL In Expressions ” ), which support the use of collection-valued input parameters.

##### 2.5.4.1. JPQL Positional Parameters

The following rules apply to positional parameters.

- Input parameters are designated by the question mark (?) prefix followed by an integer. For example: ?1.

- Input parameters are numbered starting from 1.

- The same parameter can be used more than once in the query string.

- The ordering of the use of parameters within the query string need not conform to the order of the positional parameters.

##### 2.5.4.2. JPQL Named Parameters

A named parameter is an identifier that is prefixed by the ":" symbol. It follows the rules for identifiers defined in Section 2.3.1, “ JPQL FROM Identifiers ”. Named parameters are case sensitive.

Example:

    SELECT pub FROM Publisher pub WHERE pub.revenue > :rev

The same named parameter can be used more than once in the query string.

#### 2.5.5. JPQL Conditional Expression Composition

Conditional expressions are composed of other conditional expressions, comparison operations, logical operations, path expressions that evaluate to boolean values, boolean literals, and boolean input parameters.

The scalar expressions described in Section 2.6, “ JPQL Scalar Expressions ” can be used in conditional expressions.

Standard bracketing () for ordering expression evaluation is supported.

Aggregate functions can only be used in conditional expressions in a `HAVING` clause. See Section 2.7, “ JPQL GROUP BY, HAVING ”.

Conditional expressions are defined as follows:

- conditional_expression ::= conditional_term | conditional_expression OR conditional_term

- conditional_term ::= conditional_factor | conditional_term AND conditional_factor

- conditional_factor ::= [ NOT ] conditional_primary

- conditional_primary ::= simple_cond_expression | (conditional_expression)

- simple_cond_expression ::= comparison_expression | between_expression | like_expression | in_expression | null_comparison_expression | empty_collection_comparison_expression | collection_member_expression | exists_expression

#### 2.5.6. JPQL Operators and Operator Precedence

The operators are listed below in order of decreasing precedence.

- Navigation operator (.)

- Arithmetic operators: +, - unary *, / multiplication and division +, - addition and subtraction

- Comparison operators: =, >, >=, <, <=, <> (not equal), [ `NOT` ] `BETWEEN`, [ `NOT` ] `LIKE`, [ `NOT` ] `IN`, `IS` [ `NOT` ] `NULL`, `IS` [ `NOT` ] `EMPTY`, [ `NOT` ] `MEMBER` [ `OF` ]

- Logical operators: `NOT`, `AND`, `OR`

The following sections describe other operators used in specific expressions.

#### 2.5.7. JPQL Comparison Expressions

The syntax for the use of comparison expressions in a conditional expression is as follows:

- comparison_expression ::= string_expression comparison_operator {string_expression | all_or_any_expression} | boolean_expression { =|<> } {boolean_expression | all_or_any_expression} | enum_expression { =|<> } {enum_expression | all_or_any_expression} | datetime_expression comparison_operator {datetime_expression | all_or_any_expression} | entity_expression { = | <> } {entity_expression | all_or_any_expression} | arithmetic_expression comparison_operator {arithmetic_expression | all_or_any_expression} | entity_type_expression { = | <> } entity_type_expression}

- comparison_operator ::= = | > | >= | < | <= | <>

Examples:

    item.cost * 1.08 <= 100.00

    CONCAT(person.lastName, ‘, ’, person.firstName)) = ‘Jones, Sam’

    TYPE(e) = ExemptEmployee

### Note

Comparisons over instances of embeddable class types are not supported.

#### 2.5.8. JPQL Between Expressions

The syntax for the use of the comparison operator [ `NOT` ] `BETWEEN` in a conditional expression is as follows:

arithmetic_expression [NOT] BETWEEN arithmetic_expression AND arithmetic_expression | string_expression [NOT] BETWEEN string_expression AND string_expression | datetime_expression [NOT] BETWEEN datetime_expression AND datetime_expression

The BETWEEN expression

    x BETWEEN y AND z

is semantically equivalent to:

    y <= x AND x <= z

The rules for unknown and `NULL` values in comparison operations apply. See Section 2.11, “ JPQL Null Values ” .

Examples are:

    p.age BETWEEN 15 and 19

is equivalent to:

    p.age >= 15 AND p.age <= 19

The following expression:

    p.age NOT BETWEEN 15 and 19

excludes the range, and is equivalent to:

    p.age < 15 OR p.age > 19

In the following example, `transactionHistory` is a list of credit card transactions defined using an order column.

    SELECT t
    FROM CreditCard c JOIN c.transactionHistory t
    WHERE c.holder.name = ‘John Doe’ AND INDEX(t) BETWEEN 0 AND 9

#### 2.5.9. JPQL In Expressions

The syntax for the use of the comparison operator [ `NOT` ] `IN` in a conditional expression is as follows:

- in_expression ::= state_field_path_expression [NOT] IN {( in_item {, in_item}* ) | (subquery) | collection_valued_input_parameter }

- in_item ::= literal | single_valued_input_parameter

The `state_field_path_expression` must have a string, numeric, date, time, timestamp, or enum value.

The literal and/or input_parameter values must be `like` the same abstract schema type of the `state_field_path_expression` in type. (See Section 2.12, “ JPQL Equality and Comparison Semantics ” ).

The results of the subquery must be `like` the same abstract schema type of the `state_field_path_expression` in type. Subqueries are discussed in Section 2.5.16, “ JPQL Subqueries ”.

Examples:

    o.country IN ('UK', 'US', 'France')

is true for UK and false for Peru, and is equivalent to the expression:

    (o.country = 'UK') OR (o.country = 'US') OR (o.country = ' France')

In the following expression:

    o.country NOT IN ('UK', 'US', 'France')

is false for UK and true for Peru, and is equivalent to the expression:

    NOT ((o.country = 'UK') OR (o.country = 'US') OR (o.country = 'France'))

There must be at least one element in the comma separated list that defines the set of values for the `IN` expression.

If the value of a `state_field_path_expression` or `in_item` in an `IN` or `NOT IN` expression is `NULL` or unknown, the value of the expression is unknown.

Note that use of a collection-valued input parameter will mean that a static query cannot be precompiled.

#### 2.5.10. JPQL Like Expressions

The syntax for the use of the comparison operator [ `NOT` ] `LIKE` in a conditional expression is as follows:

like_expression ::= string_expression [NOT] LIKE `pattern_value` [ESCAPE `escape_character`]

The `string_expression` must have a string value. The `pattern_value` is a string literal or a string-valued input parameter in which an underscore (_) stands for any single character, a percent (%) character stands for any sequence of characters (including the empty sequence), and all other characters stand for themselves. The optional escape_character is a single-character string literal or a character-valued input parameter (i.e., char or Character) and is used to escape the special meaning of the underscore and percent characters in pattern_value.

Examples:

-     address.phone LIKE '12%3'

  is true for '123' '12993' and false for '1234'

-     asentence.word LIKE 'l_se'

  is true for 'lose' and false for 'loose'

-     aword.underscored LIKE '\_%' ESCAPE '\'

  is true for '_foo' and false for 'bar'

-     address.phone NOT LIKE '12%3'

  is false for '123' and '12993' and true for '1234'.

If the value of the `string_expression` or `pattern_value` is `NULL` or unknown, the value of the `LIKE` expression is unknown. If the `escape_character` is specified and is `NULL`, the value of the `LIKE` expression is unknown.

#### 2.5.11. JPQL Null Comparison Expressions

The syntax for the use of the comparison operator `IS NULL` in a conditional expression is as follows:

null_comparison_expression ::= {single_valued_path_expression | input_parameter } IS [NOT] NULL

A null comparison expression tests whether or not the single-valued path expression or input parameter is a `NULL` value.

Null comparisons over instances of embeddable class types are not supported.

#### 2.5.12. JPQL Empty Collection Comparison Expressions

The syntax for the use of the comparison operator `IS EMPTY` in an `empty_collection_comparison_expression` is as follows:

empty_collection_comparison_expression ::= collection_valued_path_expression IS [NOT] EMPTY

This expression tests whether or not the collection designated by the collection-valued path expression is empty (i.e. has no elements).

For example, the following query will return all magazines that don't have any articles at all:

    SELECT mag FROM Magazine mag WHERE mag.articles IS EMPTY

If the value of the collection-valued path expression in an empty collection comparison expression is unknown, the value of the empty comparison expression is unknown.

#### 2.5.13. JPQL Collection Member Expressions

The syntax for the use of the comparison operator `MEMBER OF` in an `collection_member_expression` is as follows:

- collection_member_expression ::= entity_or_value_expression [NOT] MEMBER [OF] collection_valued_path_expression

- entity_or_value_expression ::= single_valued_object_path_expression | state_field_path_expression | simple_entity_or_value_expression

- simple_entity_or_value_expression ::= identification_variable | input_parameter | literal

This expression tests whether the designated value is a member of the collection specified by the collection-valued path expression.

Expressions that evaluate to embeddable types are not supported in collection member expressions.

If the collection valued path expression designates an empty collection, the value of the `MEMBER OF` expression is `FALSE` and the value of the `NOT MEMBER OF` expression is `TRUE`. Otherwise, if the value of the `collection_valued_path_expression` or `entity_or_value_expression` in the collection member expression is `NULL` or unknown, the value of the collection member expression is unknown.

The use of the reserved word OF is optional in this expression.

Example:

    SELECT p
    FROM Person p
    WHERE 'Joe' MEMBER OF p.nicknames

#### 2.5.14. JPQL Exists Expressions

An `EXISTS` expression is a predicate that is true only if the result of the subquery consists of one or more values and that is false otherwise. The syntax of an exists expression is

- exists_expression ::= [NOT] EXISTS (subquery)

Example:

    SELECT DISTINCT auth FROM Author auth
        WHERE EXISTS
            (SELECT spouseAuthor FROM Author spouseAuthor WHERE spouseAuthor = auth.spouse)

The result of this query consists of all authors whose spouse is also an author.

#### 2.5.15. JPQL All or Any Expressions

An `ALL` conditional expression is a predicate over a subquery that is true if the comparison operation is true for all values in the result of the subquery or the result of the subquery is empty. An `ALL` conditional expression is false if the result of the comparison is false for at least one value of the result of the subquery, and is unknown if neither true nor false.

An `ANY` conditional expression is a predicate over a subquery that is true if the comparison operation is true for some value in the result of the subquery. An `ANY` conditional expression is false if the result of the subquery is empty or if the comparison operation is false for every value in the result of the subquery, and is unknown if neither true nor false. The keyword `SOME` is synonymous with `ANY`.

The comparison operators used with `ALL` or `ANY` conditional expressions are =, <, <=, >, >=, <>. The result of the subquery must be like that of the other argument to the comparison operator in type. See Section 2.12, “ JPQL Equality and Comparison Semantics ”. The syntax of an `ALL` or `ANY` expression is specified as follows:

- all_or_any_expression ::= { ALL | ANY | SOME} (subquery)

The following example select the authors who make the highest salary for their magazine:

    SELECT auth FROM Author auth
        WHERE auth.salary >= ALL(SELECT a.salary FROM Author a WHERE a.magazine = auth.magazine)

#### 2.5.16. JPQL Subqueries

Subqueries may be used in the `WHERE` or `HAVING` clause. The syntax for subqueries is as follows:

- subquery ::= simple_select_clause subquery_from_clause [where_clause] [groupby_clause] [having_clause]

- simple_select_clause ::= SELECT [DISTINCT] simple_select_expression

- subquery_from_clause ::= FROM subselect_identification_variable_declaration {, subselect_identification_variable_declaration | collection_member_declaration }*

- subselect_identification_variable_declaration ::= identification_variable_declaration | derived_path_expression [AS] identification_variable {join}* | derived_collection_member_declaration

- simple_select_expression ::= single_valued_path_expression | scalar_expression | aggregate_expression | identification_variable

- derived_path_expression ::= superquery_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*collection_valued_field | superquery_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*single_valued_object_field

- derived_collection_member_declaration ::= IN superquery_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*collection_valued_field

Subqueries are restricted to the `WHERE` and `HAVING` clauses in this release. Support for subqueries in the `FROM` clause will be considered in a later release of the specification.

Examples:

    SELECT DISTINCT auth FROM Author auth
        WHERE EXISTS (SELECT spouseAuth FROM Author spouseAuth WHERE spouseAuth = auth.spouse)

    SELECT mag FROM Magazine mag
        WHERE (SELECT COUNT(art) FROM mag.articles art) > 10

Note that some contexts in which a subquery can be used require that the subquery be a scalar subquery (i.e., produce a single result). This is illustrated in the following example involving a numeric comparison operation.

    SELECT goodPublisher FROM Publisher goodPublisher
        WHERE goodPublisher.revenue < (SELECT AVG(p.revenue) FROM Publisher p)

    SELECT goodCustomer
    FROM Customer goodCustomer
    WHERE goodCustomer.balanceOwed < (
    SELECT AVG(c.balanceOwed)/2.0 FROM Customer c)

### 2.6. JPQL Scalar Expressions

Numeric, string, datetime, case, and entity type expressions result in scalar values.

Scalar expressions may be used in the `SELECT` clause of a query as well as in the `WHERE` and `HAVING` clauses.

scalar_expression::= arithmetic_expression | string_primary | enum_primary | datetime_primary | boolean_primary | case_expression | entity_type_expression

#### 2.6.1. Arithmetic Expressions

The arithmetic operators are:

- +, - unary
- *, / multiplication and division
- +, - addition and subtraction

Arithmetic operations use numeric promotion.

Arithmetic functions are described in Section 2.6.2.2, “ JPQL Arithmetic Functions ”.

#### 2.6.2. String, Arithmetic, and Datetime Functional Expressions

JPQL includes the built-in functions described in subsections Section 2.6.2.1, “ JPQL String Functions ”, Section 2.6.2.2, “ JPQL Arithmetic Functions ”, Section 2.6.2.3, “ JPQL Datetime Functions ”, which may be used in the `SELECT`, `WHERE` or `HAVING` clause of a query.

If the value of any argument to a functional expression is null or unknown, the value of the functional expression is unknown.

##### 2.6.2.1. JPQL String Functions

- functions_returning_strings ::= CONCAT(string_primary, string_primary) | SUBSTRING(string_primary, simple_arithmetic_expression[, simple_arithmetic_expression]) | TRIM([[trim_specification] [trim_character] FROM] string_primary) | LOWER(string_primary) | UPPER(string_primary)

- trim_specification ::= LEADING | TRAILING | BOTH

- functions_returning_numerics ::= LENGTH(string_primary) | LOCATE(string_primary, string_primary[, simple_arithmetic_expression])

The `CONCAT` function returns a string that is a concatenation of its arguments.

The second and third arguments of the `SUBSTRING` function denote the starting position and length of the substring to be returned. These arguments are integers. The third argument is optional. If it is not specified, the substring from the start position to the end of the string is returned. The first position of a string is denoted by 1. The `SUBSTRING` function returns a string.

The `TRIM` function trims the specified character from a string. If the character to be trimmed is not specified, it is assumed to be space (or blank). The optional trim_character is a single-character string literal or a character-valued input parameter (i.e., char or Character). If a trim specification is not provided, `BOTH` is assumed. The `TRIM` function returns the trimmed string.

The `LOWER` and `UPPER` functions convert a string to lower and upper case, respectively. They return a string.

The `LOCATE` function returns the position of a given string within a string, starting the search at a specified position. It returns the first position at which the string was found as an integer. The first argument is the string to be located; the second argument is the string to be searched; the optional third argument is an integer that represents the string position at which the search is started (by default, the beginning of the string to be searched). The first position in a string is denoted by 1. If the string is not found, 0 is returned.

The `LENGTH` function returns the length of the string in characters as an integer.

##### 2.6.2.2. JPQL Arithmetic Functions

- functions_returning_numerics ::= ABS(simple_arithmetic_expression) | SQRT(simple_arithmetic_expression) | MOD(simple_arithmetic_expression, simple_arithmetic_expression) | SIZE(collection_valued_path_expression) | INDEX(identification_variable)

The `ABS` function takes a numeric argument and returns a number (integer, float, or double) of the same type as the argument to the function.

The `SQRT` function takes a numeric argument and returns a double.

Note that not all databases support the use of a trim character other than the space character; use of this argument may result in queries that are not portable. Note that not all databases support the use of the third argument to `LOCATE`; use of this argument may result in queries that are not portable.

The `MOD` function takes two integer arguments and returns an integer.

The `SIZE` function returns an integer value, the number of elements of the collection. If the collection is empty, the `SIZE` function evaluates to zero. Numeric arguments to these functions may correspond to the numeric Java object types as well as the primitive numeric types.

The INDEX function returns an integer value corresponding to the position of its argument in an ordered list. The INDEX function can only be applied to identification variables denoting types for which an order column has been specified.

##### 2.6.2.3. JPQL Datetime Functions

functions_returning_datetime:= CURRENT_DATE | CURRENT_TIME | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

The datetime functions return the value of current date, time, and timestamp on the database server.

#### 2.6.3. Case Expressions

The following forms of case expressions are supported: general case expressions, simple case expressions, coalesce expressions, and nullif expressions.

`CASE` `ELSE` `END`

- case_expression::= general_case_expression | simple_case_expression | coalesce_expression | nullif_expression
- general_case_expression::= `CASE` when_clause {when_clause}* `ELSE` scalar_expression `END`
- when_clause::= `WHEN` conditional_expression `THEN` scalar_expression
- case_operand::= state_field_path_expression | type_discriminator
- simple_when_clause::= `WHEN` scalar_expression `THEN` scalar_expression
- coalesce_expression::= `COALESCE`(scalar_expression {, scalar_expression}+)
- nullif_expression::= `NULLIF`(scalar_expression, scalar_expression)

Examples:

    UPDATE Employee e
    SET e.salary =
        CASE WHEN e.rating = 1 THEN e.salary * 1.1
             WHEN e.rating = 2 THEN e.salary * 1.05
             ELSE e.salary * 1.01
        END

    UPDATE Employee e
    SET e.salary =
        CASE e.rating WHEN 1 THEN e.salary * 1.1
                      WHEN 2 THEN e.salary * 1.05
                      ELSE e.salary * 1.01
        END

    SELECT e.name,
        CASE TYPE(e) WHEN Exempt THEN 'Exempt'
                     WHEN Contractor THEN 'Contractor'
                     WHEN Intern THEN 'Intern'
                     ELSE 'NonExempt'
        END
    FROM Employee e
    WHERE e.dept.name = 'Engineering'

    SELECT e.name,
           f.name,
           CONCAT(CASE WHEN f.annualMiles > 50000 THEN 'Platinum '
                       WHEN f.annualMiles > 25000 THEN 'Gold '
                       ELSE ''
                       END,
                  'Frequent Flyer')
    FROM Employee e JOIN e.frequentFlierPlan f

#### 2.6.4. Entity Type Expressions

An entity type expression can be used to restrict query polymorphism. The `TYPE` operator returns the exact type of the argument.

The syntax of an entity type expression is as follows:

- entity_type_expression ::= type_discriminator | entity_type_literal | input_parameter
- type_discriminator ::= TYPE(identification_variable | single_valued_object_path_expression | input_parameter )

An `entity_type_literal` is designated by the entity name.

The Java class of the entity is used as an input parameter to specify the entity type.

Examples:

    SELECT e
    FROM Employee e
    WHERE TYPE(e) IN (Exempt, Contractor)

    SELECT e
    FROM Employee e
    WHERE TYPE(e) IN (:empType1, :empType2)

    SELECT e
    FROM Employee e
    WHERE TYPE(e) IN :empTypes

    SELECT TYPE(e)
    FROM Employee e
    WHERE TYPE(e) <> Exempt

### 2.7. JPQL GROUP BY, HAVING

The `GROUP BY` construct enables the aggregation of values according to a set of properties. The `HAVING` construct enables conditions to be specified that further restrict the query result. Such conditions are restrictions upon the groups.

The syntax of the `GROUP BY` and `HAVING` clauses is as follows:

- groupby_clause ::= GROUP BY groupby_item {, groupby_item}*

- groupby_item ::= single_valued_path_expression | identification_variable

- having_clause ::= HAVING conditional_expression

If a query contains both a `WHERE` clause and a `GROUP BY` clause, the effect is that of first applying the where clause, and then forming the groups and filtering them according to the `HAVING` clause. The `HAVING` clause causes those groups to be retained that satisfy the condition of the `HAVING` clause.

The requirements for the `SELECT` clause when `GROUP BY` is used follow those of SQL: namely, any item that appears in the `SELECT` clause (other than as an argument to an aggregate function) must also appear in the `GROUP BY` clause. In forming the groups, null values are treated as the same for grouping purposes.

Grouping by an entity is permitted. In this case, the entity must contain no serialized state fields or LOB-valued state fields that are eagerly fetched.

Grouping by embeddables is not supported.

The `HAVING` clause must specify search conditions over the grouping items or aggregate functions that apply to grouping items.

If there is no `GROUP BY` clause and the `HAVING` clause is used, the result is treated as a single group, and the select list can only consist of aggregate functions. The use of `HAVING` in the absence of `GROUP BY` is not required to be supported by a JPA implementation. Portable applications should not rely on `HAVING` without the use of `GROUP BY`.

### Note

OpenJPA supports the use of `HAVING` in the absence of `GROUP BY` if the underlying database supports it.

Examples:

    SELECT c.status, AVG(c.filledOrderCount), COUNT(c)
    FROM Customer c
    GROUP BY c.status
    HAVING c.status IN (1, 2)

    SELECT c.country, COUNT(c)
    FROM Customer c
    GROUP BY c.country
    HAVING COUNT(c) > 30

### 2.8. JPQL SELECT Clause

The `SELECT` clause denotes the query result. More than one value may be returned from the `SELECT` clause of a query.

The `SELECT` clause can contain one or more of the following elements: a single range variable or identification variable that ranges over an entity abstract schema type, a single-valued path expression, a scalar expression, an aggregate expression, a constructor expression.

The `SELECT` clause has the following syntax:

- select_clause ::= SELECT [DISTINCT] select_item {, select_item}*

- select_item ::= select_expression [ [AS] result_variable]

- select_expression ::= single_valued_path_expression | scalar_expression | aggregate_expression | identification_variable | OBJECT(identification_variable) | constructor_expression

- constructor_expression ::= NEW constructor_name ( constructor_item {, constructor_item}*)

- constructor_item ::= single_valued_path_expression | scalar_expression | aggregate_expression | identification_variable

- aggregate_expression ::= { AVG | MAX | MIN | SUM } ([DISTINCT] state_field_path_expression) | COUNT ([DISTINCT] identification_variable | state_field_path_expression | single_valued_object_path_expression)

For example:

    SELECT pub.id, pub.revenue
        FROM Publisher pub JOIN pub.magazines mag WHERE mag.price > 5.00

In the following example, videoInventory is a Map from the entity Movie to the number of copies in stock:

    SELECT v.location.street, KEY(i).title, VALUE(i)
    FROM VideoStore v JOIN v.videoInventory i
    WHERE v.location.zipcode = '94301' AND VALUE(i) > 0

Note that the `SELECT` clause must be specified to return only single-valued expressions. The query below is therefore not valid:

    SELECT mag.authors FROM Magazine AS mag

The `DISTINCT` keyword is used to specify that duplicate values must be eliminated from the query result.

If `DISTINCT` is not specified, duplicate values are not eliminated.

The result of DISTINCT over embeddable objects or map entry results is undefined.

Standalone identification variables in the `SELECT` clause may optionally be qualified by the `OBJECT` operator. The `SELECT` clause must not use the OBJECT operator to qualify path expressions.

A `result_variable` may be used to name a `select_item` in the query result. For example,

    SELECT c, COUNT(l) AS itemCount
    FROM Customer c JOIN c.Orders o JOIN o.lineItems l
    WHERE c.address.state = ‘CA’
    ORDER BY itemCount

#### 2.8.1. JPQL Result Type of the SELECT Clause

The type of the query result specified by the `SELECT` clause of a query is an entity abstract schema type, a state-field type, the result of of a scalar expression, the result of an aggregate function, the result of a construction operation, or some sequence of these.

The result type of the `SELECT` clause is defined by the result types of the select_expressions contained in it. When multiple select expressions are used in the `SELECT` clause, the result of the query is of type Object[], and the elements in this result correspond in order to the order of their specification in the `SELECT` clause and in type to the result types of each of the select expressions.

The type of the result of a `select_expression` is as follows:

- The result type of an `identification_variable` is the type of the entity object or embeddable object to which the identification variable corresponds. The type of an `identification_variable` that refers to an entity abstract schema type is the type of the entity to which that identification variable corresponds or a subtype as determined by the object/relational mapping.

- The result type of a `single_valued_path_expression` that is a `state_field_path_expression` results in an object of the same type as the corresponding state field of the entity or embeddable class. If the state field of the entity is a primitive type, the result type is the corresponding object type.

- The result type of a `single_valued_path_expression` that is a `single_valued_object_path_expression` is the type of the entity object or embeddable object to which the path expression corresponds. A `single_valued_object_path_expression` that results in an entity object will result in an entity of the type of the relationship field or the subtype of the relationship field of the entity object as determined by the object/relational mapping.

- The result type of a `single_valued_path_expression` that is an identification_variable to which the `KEY` or `VALUE` function has been applied is determined by the type of the map key or value respectively, as defined by the above rules

- The result type of a `single_valued_path_expression` that is an `identification_variable` to which the `ENTRY` function has been applied is `java.util.Map.Entry`, where the key and value types of the map entry are determined by the above rules as applied to the map key and map value respectively.

- The result type of a `scalar_expression` is the type of the scalar value to which the expression evaluates. The result type of a numeric `scalar_expression` is defined in Section 2.6, “ JPQL Scalar Expressions ”

- The result type of an `entity_type_expression` scalar expression is the Java class to which the resulting abstract schema type corresponds.

- The result type of aggregate_expression is defined in Section 2.8.5, “ JPQL Aggregate Functions ”.

- The result type of a `constructor_expression` is the type of the class for which the constructor is defined. The types of the arguments to the constructor are defined by the above rules.

#### 2.8.2. JPQL Constructor Expressions

A constructor may be used in the `SELECT` list to return one or more Java instances. The specified class is not required to be an entity or to be mapped to the database. The constructor name must be fully qualified.

If an entity class name is specified in the `SELECT NEW` clause, the resulting entity instances are in the new state.

If a `single_valued_path_expression` or `identification_variable` that is an argument to the constructor references an entity, the resulting entity instance referenced by that `single_valued_path_expression` or `identification_variable` will be in the managed state.

If `PublisherInfo` is an entity class, the following 2 queries return instances of `PublisherInfo` that will be in the new state. In the second example, `mag` is an `identification_variable` passed as an argument to the constructor `PublisherInfo(Magazine mag)`; the entity instances of `Magazine` created during query evaluation will be in the managed state. Example:

    SELECT NEW com.company.PublisherInfo(pub.id, pub.revenue, mag.price)
        FROM Publisher pub JOIN pub.magazines mag WHERE mag.price > 5.00

    SELECT NEW com.company.PublisherInfo(mag)
        FROM Publisher pub JOIN pub.magazines mag WHERE mag.price > 5.00

#### 2.8.3. JPQL Null Values in the Query Result

If the result of a query corresponds to a association-field or state-field whose value is null, that null value is returned in the result of the query method. The `IS NOT NULL` construct can be used to eliminate such null values from the result set of the query.

Note, however, that state-field types defined in terms of Java numeric primitive types cannot produce `NULL` values in the query result. A query that returns such a state-field type as a result type must not return a null value.

#### 2.8.4. JPQL Embeddables in the Query Result

If the result of a query corresponds to an identification variable or state field whose value is an embeddable, the embeddable instance returned by the query will not be in the managed state (i.e., it will not be part of the state of any managed entity).

In the following example, the `Address` instances returned by the query will reference Phone instances. While the `Phone` instances will be managed, the `Address`> instances referenced by the `addr` result variable will not be. Modifications to these embeddable instances are not allowed.

    @Entity
    public class Employee {
      @Id int id;
      Address address;
      ...
    }

    @Embeddable
    public class Address {
      String street;
      ...
      @OneToOne Phone phone; // fetch=EAGER
    }

    @Entity
    public class Phone {
      @Id int id;
      ...
      @OneToOne(mappedBy="address.phone") Employee emp; // fetch=EAGER
    }

    SELECT e.address AS addr
    FROM Employee e

#### 2.8.5. JPQL Aggregate Functions

The result of a query may be the result of an aggregate function applied to a path expression.

The following aggregate functions can be used in the `SELECT` clause of a query: `AVG`, `COUNT`, `MAX`, `MIN`, `SUM`.

For all aggregate functions except `COUNT`, the path expression that is the argument to the aggregate function must terminate in a state-field. The path expression argument to `COUNT` may terminate in either a state-field or a association-field, or the argument to `COUNT` may be an identification variable.

Arguments to the functions `SUM` and `AVG` must be numeric. Arguments to the functions `MAX` and `MIN` must correspond to orderable state-field types (i.e., numeric types, string types, character types, or date types).

The Java type that is contained in the result of a query using an aggregate function is as follows:

- `COUNT` returns Long.

- `MAX`, `MIN` return the type of the state-field to which they are applied.

- `AVG` returns Double.

- `SUM` returns Long when applied to state-fields of integral types (other than BigInteger); Double when applied to state-fields of floating point types; BigInteger when applied to state-fields of type BigInteger; and BigDecimal when applied to state-fields of type BigDecimal.

If `SUM` , `AVG`, `MAX`, or `MIN` is used, and there are no values to which the aggregate function can be applied, the result of the aggregate function is `NULL`.

If `COUNT` is used, and there are no values to which `COUNT` can be applied, the result of the aggregate function is 0.

The argument to an aggregate function may be preceded by the keyword `DISTINCT` to specify that duplicate values are to be eliminated before the aggregate function is applied. It is legal to specify `DISTINCT` with `MAX` or `MIN`, but it does not affect the result.

Null values are eliminated before the aggregate function is applied, regardless of whether the keyword `DISTINCT` is specified.

The use of `DISTINCT` with `COUNT` is not supported for arguments of embeddable types or map entry types.

##### 2.8.5.1. JPQL Aggregate Examples

The following query returns the average price of all magazines:

    SELECT AVG(mag.price) FROM Magazine mag

The following query returns the sum of all the prices from all the magazines published by 'Larry':

    SELECT SUM(mag.price) FROM Publisher pub JOIN pub.magazines mag WHERE pub.firstName = 'Larry'

The following query returns the total number of magazines:

    SELECT COUNT(mag) FROM Magazine mag

##### 2.8.5.2. JPQL Numeric Expressions in the SELECT Clause

The type of a numeric expression in the query result is determined as follows:

An operand that corresponds to a persistent state-field is of the same type as that persistent state-field.

An operand that corresponds to one of arithmetic functions described in Section 2.6.2.2, “ JPQL Arithmetic Functions ” is of the type defined by Section 2.6.2.2, “ JPQL Arithmetic Functions ”.

An operand that corresponds to one of an aggregate functions described in Section 2.8.5, “ JPQL Aggregate Functions ” is of the type defined by Section 2.8.5, “ JPQL Aggregate Functions ”.

The result of a case expression, coalesce expression, nullif expression, or arithmetic expression (+, -, *, /) is determined by applying the following rule to its operands.

- If there is an operand of type Double or double, the result of the operation is of type Double;

- otherwise, if there is an operand of type Float or float, the result of the operation is of type Float;

- otherwise, if there is an operand of type BigDecimal, the result of the operation is of type Big- Decimal;

- otherwise, if there is an operand of type BigInteger, the result of the operation is of type BigInteger;

- otherwise, if there is an operand of type Long or long, the result of the operation is of type Long;

- otherwise, if there is an operand of integral type, the result of the operation is of type Integer.

### 2.9. JPQL ORDER BY Clause

The `ORDER BY` clause allows the objects or values that are returned by the query to be ordered. The syntax of the `ORDER BY` clause is

- orderby_clause ::= ORDER BY orderby_item {, orderby_item}*

- orderby_item ::= { state_field_path_expression | result_variable } [ASC | DESC]

An orderby_item must be one of the following:

- A `state_field_path_expression` that evaluates to an orderable state field of an entity or embeddable class abstract schema type designated in the SELECT clause by one of the following:

  - a `general_identification_variable`

  - a `single_valued_object_path_expression`

- A `state_field_path_expression` that evaluates to the same state field of the same entity or embeddable abstract schema type as a `state_field_path_expression` in the `SELECT` clause.

- A `result_variable` that refers to an orderable item in the `SELECT` clause for which the same `result_variable` has been specified. This may be the result of an `aggregate_expression`, a `scalar_expression`, or a `state_field_path_expression` in the `SELECT` clause.

For example, the five queries below are legal.

    SELECT pub FROM Publisher pub ORDER BY pub.revenue, pub.name

    SELECT o
    FROM Customer c JOIN c.orders o JOIN c.address a
    WHERE a.state = ‘CA’
    ORDER BY o.quantity DESC, o.totalcost

    SELECT o.quantity, a.zipcode
    FROM Customer c JOIN c.orders o JOIN c.address a
    WHERE a.state = ‘CA’
    ORDER BY o.quantity, a.zipcode

    SELECT o.quantity, o.cost*1.08 AS taxedCost, a.zipcode
    FROM Customer c JOIN c.orders o JOIN c.address a
    WHERE a.state = ‘CA’ AND a.county = ‘Santa Clara’
    ORDER BY o.quantity, taxedCost, a.zipcode

    SELECT AVG(o.quantity) as q, a.zipcode
    FROM Customer c JOIN c.orders o JOIN c.address a
    WHERE a.state = ‘CA’
    GROUP BY a.zipcode
    ORDER BY q DESC

The following two queries are not legal because the `orderby_item` is not reflected in the `SELECT` clause of the query.

    SELECT p.product_name
    FROM Order o JOIN o.lineItems l JOIN l.product p JOIN o.customer c
    WHERE c.lastname = ‘Smith’ AND c.firstname = ‘John’
    ORDER BY p.price

    SELECT p.product_name
    FROM Order o, IN(o.lineItems) l JOIN o.customer c
    WHERE c.lastname = ‘Smith’ AND c.firstname = ‘John’
    ORDER BY o.quantity

If more than one `orderby_item` is specified, the left-to-right sequence of the `orderby_item` elements determines the precedence, whereby the leftmost `orderby_item` has highest precedence.

The keyword `ASC` specifies that ascending ordering be used; the keyword `DESC` specifies that descending ordering be used. Ascending ordering is the default.

SQL rules for the ordering of null values apply: that is, all null values must appear before all non-null values in the ordering or all null values must appear after all non-null values in the ordering, but it is not specified which.

The ordering of the query result is preserved in the result of the query method if the `ORDER BY` clause is used.

### 2.10. JPQL Bulk Update and Delete

Bulk update and delete operations apply to entities of a single entity class (together with its subclasses, if any). Only one entity abstract schema type may be specified in the `FROM` or `UPDATE` clause. The syntax of these operations is as follows:

- update_statement ::= update_clause [where_clause]

- update_clause ::= UPDATE entity_name [[AS] identification_variable] SET update_item {, update_item}*

- update_item ::= [identification_variable.]{state_field | single_valued_object_field} = new_value

- new_value ::= scalar_expression | simple_entity_expression | NULL

- delete_statement ::= delete_clause [where_clause]

- delete_clause ::= DELETE FROM entity_name [[AS] identification_variable]

The syntax of the `WHERE` clause is described in Section 2.4, “ JPQL WHERE Clause ”.

A delete operation only applies to entities of the specified class and its subclasses. It does not cascade to related entities.

The `new_value` specified for an update operation must be compatible in type with the state-field to which it is assigned.

Bulk update maps directly to a database update operation, bypassing optimistic locking checks. Portable applications must manually update the value of the version column, if desired, and/or manually validate the value of the version column.

The persistence context is not synchronized with the result of the bulk update or delete.

Caution should be used when executing bulk update or delete operations because they may result in inconsistencies between the database and the entities in the active persistence context. In general, bulk update and delete operations should only be performed within a transaction in a new persistence context or at the beginning of a transaction (before entities have been accessed whose state might be affected by such operations).

Examples:

    DELETE FROM Publisher pub WHERE pub.revenue > 1000000.0

    DELETE FROM Publisher pub WHERE pub.revenue = 0 AND pub.magazines IS EMPTY

    UPDATE Publisher pub SET pub.status = 'outstanding'
        WHERE pub.revenue < 1000000 AND 20 > (SELECT COUNT(mag) FROM pub.magazines mag)

### 2.11. JPQL Null Values

When the target of a reference does not exist in the database, its value is regarded as `NULL`. SQL 92 `NULL` semantics defines the evaluation of conditional expressions containing `NULL` values. The following is a brief description of these semantics:

- Comparison or arithmetic operations with a `NULL` value always yield an unknown value.

- Two `NULL` values are not considered to be equal, the comparison yields an unknown value.

- Comparison or arithmetic operations with an unknown value always yield an unknown value.

- The `IS NULL` and `IS NOT NULL` operators convert a `NULL` state-field or single-valued association-field value into the respective `TRUE` or `FALSE` value.

Note: The JPQL defines the empty string, "", as a string with 0 length, which is not equal to a `NULL` value. However, `NULL` values and empty strings may not always be distinguished when queries are mapped to some databases. Application developers should therefore not rely on the semantics of query comparisons involving the empty string and `NULL` value.

### 2.12. JPQL Equality and Comparison Semantics

Only the values of `like` types are permitted to be compared. A type is `like` another type if they correspond to the same Java language type, or if one is a primitive Java language type and the other is the wrappered Java class type equivalent (e.g., `int` and `Integer` are like types in this sense). There is one exception to this rule: it is valid to compare numeric values for which the rules of numeric promotion apply. Conditional expressions attempting to compare non-like type values are disallowed except for this numeric case.

Note that the arithmetic operators and comparison operators are permitted to be applied to state-fields and input parameters of the wrappered Java class equivalents to the primitive numeric Java types.

Two entities of the same abstract schema type are equal if and only if they have the same primary key value.

Equality/inequality comparisons over enums are supported.

Comparisons over instances of embeddable class or map entry types are not supported.

### 2.13. JPQL BNF

The following is the BNF for the Java Persistence query language, from section 4.14 of the JSR 317 specification.

select_item ::= select_expression [[AS] result_variable]

- QL_statement ::= select_statement | update_statement | delete_statement

- select_statement ::= select_clause from_clause [where_clause] [groupby_clause] [having_clause] [orderby_clause]

- update_statement ::= update_clause [where_clause]

- delete_statement ::= delete_clause [where_clause]

- from_clause ::= `FROM` identification_variable_declaration {, {identification_variable_declaration | collection_member_declaration}}*

- identification_variable_declaration ::= range_variable_declaration { join | fetch_join }*

- range_variable_declaration ::= entity_name [ `AS` ] identification_variable

- join ::= join_spec join_association_path_expression [ `AS` ] identification_variable

- fetch_join ::= join_spec `FETCH` join_association_path_expression

- join_spec ::= [ `LEFT` [ `OUTER` ]| `INNER` ] `JOIN`

- join_association_path_expression ::= join_collection_valued_path_expression | join_single_valued_path_expression

- join_collection_valued_path_expression ::= identification_variable.{single_valued_embeddable_object_field.}*collection_valued_field

- join_single_valued_path_expression ::= identification_variable.{single_valued_embeddable_object_field.}*single_valued_object_field

- collection_member_declaration ::= `IN` (join_collection_valued_path_expression) [ `AS` ] identification_variable

- qualified_identification_variable ::= KEY(identification_variable) | VALUE(identification_variable) | ENTRY(identification_variable)

- single_valued_path_expression ::= qualified_identification_variable | state_field_path_expression | single_valued_object_path_expression

- general_identification_variable ::= identification_variable | KEY(identification_variable) | VALUE(identification_variable)

- state_field_path_expression ::= general_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*state_field

- single_valued_object_path_expression ::= general_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}* single_valued_object_field

- collection_valued_path_expression ::= general_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*collection_valued_field

- update_clause ::= `UPDATE` entity_name [[ `AS` ] identification_variable] `SET` update_item {, update_item}*

- update_item ::= [identification_variable.]{state_field | single_valued_object_field}= new_value

- new_value ::= scalar_expression | simple_entity_expression | `NULL`

- delete_clause ::= `DELETE` `FROM` entity_name [[ `AS` ] identification_variable]

- select_clause ::= `SELECT` [ `DISTINCT` ] select_item {, select_item}*

- select_expression ::= single_valued_path_expression | scalar_expression | aggregate_expression | identification_variable | `OBJECT` (identification_variable)| constructor_expression

- constructor_expression ::= `NEW` constructor_name( constructor_item {, constructor_item}*)

- constructor_item ::= single_valued_path_expression | scalar_expression | aggregate_expression | identification_variable

- aggregate_expression ::= { `AVG` | `MAX` | `MIN` | `SUM` }([ `DISTINCT` ] state_field_path_expression) | `COUNT` ([ `DISTINCT` ] identification_variable | state_field_path_expression | single_valued_object_path_expression)

- where_clause ::= `WHERE` conditional_expression

- groupby_clause ::= `GROUP` `BY` groupby_item {, groupby_item}*

- groupby_item ::= single_valued_path_expression | identification_variable

- having_clause ::= `HAVING` conditional_expression

- orderby_clause ::= `ORDER` `BY` orderby_item {, orderby_item}*

- orderby_item ::= state_field_path_expression | result_variable [ `ASC` | `DESC` ]

- subquery ::= simple_select_clause subquery_from_clause [where_clause] [groupby_clause] [having_clause]

- subquery_from_clause ::= `FROM` subselect_identification_variable_declaration {, subselect_identification_variable_declaration | collection_member_declaration}*

- subselect_identification_variable_declaration ::= identification_variable_declaration | derived_path_expression [ `AS` ] identification_variable | derived_collection_member_declaration

- derived_path_expression ::= superquery_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*collection_valued_field | superquery_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*single_valued_object_field

- derived_collection_member_declaration ::= IN superquery_identification_variable.{single_valued_object_field.}*collection_valued_field

- simple_select_clause ::= `SELECT` [ `DISTINCT` ] simple_select_expression

- simple_select_expression ::= single_valued_path_expression | scalar_expression | aggregate_expression | identification_variable

- scalar_expression ::= simple_arithmetic_expression | string_primary | enum_primary | datetime_primary | boolean_primary | case_expression | entity_type_expression

- conditional_expression ::= conditional_term | conditional_expression `OR` conditional_term

- conditional_term ::= conditional_factor | conditional_term `AND` conditional_factor

- conditional_factor ::= [ `NOT` ] conditional_primary

- conditional_primary ::= simple_cond_expression |(conditional_expression)

- simple_cond_expression ::= comparison_expression | between_expression | like_expression | in_expression | null_comparison_expression | empty_collection_comparison_expression | collection_member_expression | exists_expression

- between_expression ::= arithmetic_expression [ `NOT` ] `BETWEEN` arithmetic_expression `AND` arithmetic_expression | string_expression [ `NOT` ] `BETWEEN` string_expression `AND` string_expression | datetime_expression [ `NOT` ] `BETWEEN` datetime_expression `AND` datetime_expression

- in_expression ::= {state_field_path_expression | type_discriminator} [ `NOT` ] `IN` {( in_item {, in_item}*) | (subquery) | collection_valued_input_parameter }

- in_item ::= literal | single_valued_input_parameter

- like_expression ::= string_expression [ `NOT` ] `LIKE` pattern_value [ `ESCAPE` escape_character]

- null_comparison_expression ::= {single_valued_path_expression | input_parameter} `IS` [ `NOT` ] `NULL`

- empty_collection_comparison_expression ::= collection_valued_path_expression `IS` [ `NOT` ] `EMPTY`

- collection_member_expression ::= entity_expression [ `NOT` ] `MEMBER` [ `OF` ] collection_valued_path_expression

- entity_or_value_expression ::= single_valued_object_path_expression | state_field_path_expression | simple_entity_or_value_expression

- simple_entity_or_value_expression ::= identification_variable | input_parameter | literal

- exists_expression ::= [ `NOT` ] `EXISTS` (subquery)

- all_or_any_expression ::= { `ALL` | `ANY` | `SOME` }(subquery)

- comparison_expression ::= string_expressioncomparison_operator{string_expression|all_or_any_expression}| boolean_expression {=|<>} {boolean_expression | all_or_any_expression} | enum_expression {=|<>} {enum_expression | all_or_any_expression} | datetime_expression comparison_operator {datetime_expression | all_or_any_expression} | entity_expression {= |<> } {entity_expression | all_or_any_expression} | arithmetic_expression comparison_operator {arithmetic_expression | all_or_any_expression} | entity_type_expression { =|<>>} entity_type_expression}

- comparison_operator ::== |> |>= |< |<= |<>

- arithmetic_expression ::= simple_arithmetic_expression |(subquery)

- simple_arithmetic_expression ::= arithmetic_term | simple_arithmetic_expression {+ |- } arithmetic_term

- arithmetic_term ::= arithmetic_factor | arithmetic_term {* |/ } arithmetic_factor

- arithmetic_factor ::= [{+ |-}] arithmetic_primary

- arithmetic_primary ::= state_field_path_expression | numeric_literal | (simple_arithmetic_expression) | input_parameter | functions_returning_numerics | aggregate_expression | case_expression

- string_expression ::= string_primary |(subquery)

- string_primary ::= state_field_path_expression | string_literal | input_parameter | functions_returning_strings | aggregate_expression | case_expression

- datetime_expression ::= datetime_primary |(subquery)

- datetime_primary ::= state_field_path_expression | input_parameter | functions_returning_datetime | aggregate_expression | case_expression | date_time_timestamp_literal

- boolean_expression ::= boolean_primary |(subquery)

- boolean_primary ::= state_field_path_expression | boolean_literal | input_parameter | case_expression

- enum_expression ::= enum_primary |(subquery)

- enum_primary ::= state_field_path_expression | enum_literal | input_parameter | case_expression

- entity_expression ::= single_valued_object_path_expression | simple_entity_expression

- simple_entity_expression ::= identification_variable | input_parameter

- entity_type_expression ::= type_discriminator | entity_type_literal | input_parameter

- type_discriminator ::= `TYPE`(identification_variable | single_valued_object_path_expression | input_parameter)

- functions_returning_numerics ::= `LENGTH` (string_primary)| `LOCATE` (string_primary,string_primary [, simple_arithmetic_expression]) | `ABS` (simple_arithmetic_expression) | `SQRT` (simple_arithmetic_expression) | `MOD` (simple_arithmetic_expression, simple_arithmetic_expression) | `SIZE` (collection_valued_path_expression) | `INDEX`(identification_variable)

- functions_returning_datetime ::= `CURRENT_DATE` | `CURRENT_TIME` | `CURRENT_TIMESTAMP`

- functions_returning_strings ::= `CONCAT` (string_primary, string_primary) | `SUBSTRING` (string_primary, simple_arithmetic_expression[,simple_arithmetic_expression])| `TRIM` ([[trim_specification] [trim_character] `FROM` ] string_primary) | `LOWER` (string_primary) | `UPPER` (string_primary)

- trim_specification ::= `LEADING` | `TRAILING` | `BOTH`

- case_expression ::= general_case_expression | simple_case_expression | coalesce_expression | nullif_expression

- general_case_expression::= `CASE` when_clause {when_clause}* `ELSE` scalar_expression `END`

- when_clause::= `WHEN` conditional_expression `THEN` scalar_expression

- simple_case_expression::= `CASE` case_operand simple_when_clause {simple_when_clause}* `ELSE` scalar_expression `END`

- case_operand::= state_field_path_expression | type_discriminator

- simple_when_clause::= `WHEN` scalar_expression `THEN` scalar_expression

- coalesce_expression::= `COALESCE`(scalar_expression {, scalar_expression}+)

- nullif_expression::= `NULLIF`(scalar_expression, scalar_expression)

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