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• AlaSQL is an unfunded open source project installed 650k+ times each month.Please donate your time. We appreciate any and all contributions we can get.

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AlaSQL -(à laSQL ) [ælæ ɛskju:ɛl] - is an open source SQL database for JavaScript with a strong focus on query speed and data source flexibility for both relational data and schemaless data. It works in the web browser, Node.js, and mobile apps.

This library is perfect for:

• Fast in-memory SQL data processing for BI and ERP applications on fat clients
• Easy ETL and options for persistence by data import / manipulation / export of several formats
• All major browsers, Node.js, and mobile applications

We focus onspeed by taking advantage of the dynamic nature of JavaScript when building up queries. Real-world solutions demand flexibility regarding where data comes from and where it is to be stored. We focus on flexibility by making sure you canimport/export and query directly on data stored in Excel (both.xls and.xlsx), CSV, JSON, TAB, IndexedDB, LocalStorage, and SQLite files.

The library adds the comfort of a full database engine to your JavaScript app. No, really - it's working towards a full database engine complying withmost of the SQL-99 language, spiced up with additional syntax for NoSQL (schema-less) data and graph networks.

/* create SQL Table and add data */alasql('CREATE TABLE cities (city string, pop number)');alasql("INSERT INTO cities VALUES ('Paris',2249975),('Berlin',3517424),('Madrid',3041579)");/* execute query */varres=alasql('SELECT * FROM cities WHERE pop < 3500000 ORDER BY pop DESC');// res = [ { "city": "Madrid", "pop": 3041579 }, { "city": "Paris", "pop": 2249975 } ]

Live Demo

vardata=[{a:1,b:10},{a:2,b:20},{a:1,b:30},];varres=alasql('SELECT a, SUM(b) AS b FROM ? GROUP BY a',[data]);// res = [ { "a": 1, "b": 40},{ "a": 2, "b": 20 } ]

Live Demo

// file is read asynchronously (Promise returned when SQL given as array)alasql(['SELECT * FROM XLS("./data/mydata") WHERE lastname LIKE "A%" and city = "London" GROUP BY name ',]).then(function(res){console.log(res);// output depends on mydata.xls}).catch(function(err){console.log('Does the file exist? There was an error:',err);});

alasql('CREATE TABLE example1 (a INT, b INT)');// alasql's data store for a table can be assigned directlyalasql.tables.example1.data=[{a:2,b:6},{a:3,b:4},];// ... or manipulated with normal SQLalasql('INSERT INTO example1 VALUES (1,5)');varres=alasql('SELECT * FROM example1 ORDER BY b DESC');console.log(res);// [{a:2,b:6},{a:1,b:5},{a:3,b:4}]

If you are familiar with SQL, it should be no surprise that proper use of indexes on your tables is essential for good performance.

AlaSQL has severalconfiguration options which change the behavior. It can be set via SQL statements or via the options object before usingalasql.

If you're usingNOW() in queries often, settingalasql.options.dateAsString tofalse speed things up. It will just return a JS Date object instead of a string representation of a date.

yarn add alasql# yarnnpm install alasql# npmnpm install -g alasql# global install of command line tool

For the browsers: includealasql.min.js

<scriptsrc="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/alasql@4"></script>

See the"Getting started" section of the wiki

More advanced topics are covered in other wiki sections like"Data manipulation" and in questions onStack Overflow

Other links:

• Documentation:Github wiki

• Library CDN:jsDelivr.com

• Feedback:Open an issue

• Try online:Playground

• Website:alasql.org

All contributions are extremely welcome and greatly appreciated(!) -The project has never received any funding and is based on unpaid voluntary work:We really (really) love pull requests

The AlaSQL project depends on your contribution of code andmay havebugs. So please, submit any bugs and suggestionsas an issue.

Please check out thelimitations of the library.

AlaSQL is designed for speed and includes some of the classic SQL engine optimizations:

• Queries are cached as compiled functions
• Joined tables are pre-indexed
• WHERE expressions are pre-filtered for joins

See moreperformance-related info on the wiki

Use "good old" SQL on your data with multiple levels of:JOIN,VIEW,GROUP BY,UNION,PRIMARY KEY,ANY,ALL,IN,ROLLUP(),CUBE(),GROUPING SETS(),CROSS APPLY,OUTER APPLY,WITH SELECT, and subqueries.The wiki lists supported SQL statements and keywords.

You can use all benefits of SQL and JavaScript together by defining your own custom functions. Just add new functions to the alasql.fn object:

alasql.fn.myfn=function(a,b){returna*b+1;};varres=alasql('SELECT myfn(a,b) FROM one');

You can also define your own aggregator functions (like your ownSUM(...)). See morein the wiki

varins=alasql.compile('INSERT INTO one VALUES (?,?)');ins(1,10);ins(2,20);

See morein the wiki

Group your JavaScript array of objects by field and count number of records in each group:

vardata=[{a:1,b:1,c:1},{a:1,b:2,c:1},{a:1,b:3,c:1},{a:2,b:1,c:1},];varres=alasql('SELECT a, COUNT(*) AS b FROM ? GROUP BY a',[data]);

See more ideas for creative data manipulationin the wiki

AlaSQL extends "good old" SQL to make it closer to JavaScript. The "sugar" includes:

• Write Json objects -{a:'1',b:@['1','2','3']}

• Access object properties -obj->property->subproperty

• Access object and arrays elements -obj->(a*1)

• Access JavaScript functions -obj->valueOf()

• Format query output withSELECT VALUE, ROW, COLUMN, MATRIX

• Output nested objects withINTO OBJECT() - converts arrow notation columns back to nested structure

• ES5 multiline SQL withvar SQL = function(){/*SELECT 'MY MULTILINE SQL'*/} and pass instead of SQL string (will not work if you compress your code)

When selecting nested properties using arrow notation (->), results are normally flattened with the arrow path as the key. UseINTO OBJECT() to restore the nested structure:

vardata=[{name:'Oslo',info:{country:'Norway',population:700000}}];// Standard output (flattened)alasql('SELECT name, info->country FROM ?',[data]);// [{ "name": "Oslo", "info->country": "Norway" }]// With INTO OBJECT() (nested)alasql('SELECT name, info->country INTO OBJECT() FROM ?',[data]);// [{ "name": "Oslo", "info": { "country": "Norway" }}]

You can import from and export to CSV, TAB, TXT, and JSON files. File extensions can be omitted. Calls to files will always be asynchronous so multi-file queries should be chained:

vartabFile='mydata.tab';alasql.promise(["SELECT * FROM txt('MyFile.log') WHERE [0] LIKE 'M%'",// parameter-less query['SELECT * FROM tab(?) ORDER BY [1]',[tabFile]],// [query, array of params]"SELECT [3] AS city,[4] AS population FROM csv('./data/cities')","SELECT * FROM json('../config/myJsonfile')",]).then(function(results){console.log(results);}).catch(console.error);

AlaSQL can read (but not write) SQLite data files usingSQL.js library:

<scriptsrc="alasql.js"></script><scriptsrc="sql.js"></script><script>alasql(['ATTACH SQLITE DATABASE Chinook("Chinook_Sqlite.sqlite")','USE Chinook','SELECT * FROM Genre',]).then(function(res){console.log('Genres:',res.pop());});</script>

sql.js calls will always be asynchronous.

The node module ships with analasql command-line tool:

$ npm install -g alasql## install the module globally$ alasql -h## shows usage information$ alasql"SET @data = @[{a:'1',b:?},{a:'2',b:?}]; SELECT a, b FROM @data;" 10 20[ 1, [ { a: 1, b: 10 }, { a: 2, b: 20 } ] ]$ alasql"VALUE OF SELECT COUNT(*) AS abc FROM TXT('README.md') WHERE LENGTH([0]) > ?" 140// Number of lines with more than 140 charactersin README.md

More examples are included in the wiki

AlaSQL plays nice with d3.js and gives you a convenient way to integrate a specific subset of your data with the visual powers of D3. See more aboutD3.js and AlaSQL in the wiki

AlaSQL can export data to bothExcel 2003 (.xls) andExcel 2007 (.xlsx) formats with coloring of cells and other Excel formatting functions.

Meteor is amazing. You can query directly on your Meteor collections with SQL - simple and easy. See more aboutMeteor and AlaSQL in the wiki

Angular is great. In addition to normal data manipulation, AlaSQL works like a charm for exporting your present scope to Excel. See more aboutAngular and AlaSQL in the wiki

Pinpointing data on a map should be easy. AlaSQL is great to prepare source data for Google Maps from, for example, Excel or CSV, making it one unit of work for fetching and identifying what's relevant. See more aboutGoogle Maps and AlaSQL in the wiki

AlaSQL can query data directly from a Google spreadsheet. A good "partnership" for easy editing and powerful data manipulation. See more aboutGoogle Spreadsheets and AlaSQL in the wiki

Take charge andadd your idea orvote for your favorite feature to be implemented:

Please be aware that AlaSQL hasbugs. Beside having some bugs, there are a number of limitations:

0. AlaSQL has a (long) list of keywords that must be escaped if used for column names. When selecting a field namedkey please writeSELECT `key` FROM ... instead. This is also the case for words like`value`,`read`,`count`,`by`,`top`,`path`,`deleted`,`work` and`offset`. Please consult thefull list of keywords.

1. It is OK toSELECT 1000000 records or toJOIN two tables with 10000 records in each (You can use streaming functions to work with longer datasources - seetest/test143.js) but be aware that the workload is multiplied soSELECTing from more than 8 tables with just 100 rows in each will show bad performance. This is one of our top priorities to make better.

2. Limited functionality for transactions (supports only for localStorage) - Sorry, transactions are limited, because AlaSQL switched to more complex approach for handlingPRIMARY KEYs /FOREIGN KEYs. Transactions will be fully turned on again in a future version.

3. A(FULL) OUTER JOIN andRIGHT JOIN of more than 2 tables will not produce expected results.INNER JOIN andLEFT JOIN are OK.

4. Please use aliases when you want fields with the same name from different tables (SELECT a.id AS a_id, b.id AS b_id FROM ?).

5. At the moment AlaSQL does not work with JSZip 3.0.0 - please use version 2.x.

6. JOINing a sub-SELECT does not work. Please use awith structure (Example here) or fetch the sub-SELECT to a variable and pass it as an argument (Example here).

7. AlaSQL uses theFileSaver.js library for saving files locally from the browser. Please be aware that it does not save files in Safari 8.0.

There are probably many others. Please help us fix them bysubmitting an issue. Thank you!

ETL example:

alasql(['CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS geo.country','SELECT * INTO geo.country FROM CSV("country.csv",{headers:true})','SELECT * INTO XLSX("asia") FROM geo.country WHERE continent_name = "Asia"',]).then(function(res){// results from the file asia.xlsx});

AlaSQL can run in a Web Worker. Please be aware that all interaction with AlaSQL when running must be async.

From the browser thread, the browser buildalasql-worker.min.js automagically uses Web Workers:

<scriptsrc="alasql-worker.min.js"></script><script>vararr=[{a:1},{a:2},{a:1}];alasql([['SELECT * FROM ?',[arr]]]).then(function(data){console.log(data);});</script>

Live Demo.

The standard buildalasql.min.js will use Web Workers ifalasql.worker() is called:

<scriptsrc="alasql.min.js"></script><script>alasql.worker();alasql(['SELECT VALUE 10']).then(function(res){console.log(res);}).catch(console.error);</script>

Live Demo.

From a Web Worker, you can importalasql.min.js withimportScripts:

importScripts('alasql.min.js');

When targeting the browser, several code bundlers like Webpack and Browserify will pick up modules you might not want.

Here's a list of modules that AlaSQL may require in certain environments or for certain features:

• Node.js
  • fs
  • net
  • tls
  • request
  • path
• React Native
  • react-native
  • react-native-fs
  • react-native-fetch-blob
• Vertx
  • vertx
• Agonostic
  • XLSX/XLS support
    • cptable
    • jszip
    • xlsx
    • cpexcel
  • es6-promise

There are several ways to handle AlaSQL with Webpack:

Ideal when you want to control which modules you want to import.

varIgnorePlugin=require("webpack").IgnorePlugin;module.exports={  ...// Will ignore the modules fs, path, xlsx, request, vertx, and react-native modulesplugins:[newIgnorePlugin(/(^fs$|cptable|jszip|xlsx|^es6-promise$|^net$|^tls$|^forever-agent$|^tough-cookie$|cpexcel|^path$|^request$|react-native|^vertx$)/)]};

As of AlaSQL 0.3.5, you can simply tell Webpack not to parse AlaSQL, which avoids all the dynamicrequire warnings and avoids usingeval/clashing with CSP with script-loader.Read the Webpack docs about noParse

...//Don't parse alasql{module:noParse:[/alasql/]}

If both of the solutions above fail to meet your requirements, you can load AlaSQL withscript-loader.

//Load alasql in the global scope with script-loaderimport'script!alasql';

This can cause issues if you have a CSP that doesn't alloweval.

Read up onexcluding,ignoring, andshimming

Example (using excluding)

varbrowserify=require("browserify");varb=browserify("./main.js").bundle();//Will ignore the modules fs, path, xlsx["fs","path","xlsx",  ...].forEach(ignore=>{b.ignore(ignore)});

For some frameworks (lige Vue) alasql cant access XLSX by it self. We recommend handling it by including AlaSQL the following way:

import XLSX from 'xlsx';alasql.utils.isBrowserify = false;alasql.utils.global.XLSX = XLSX;

Please remember to send the original event, and not the jQuery event, for elements. (Useevent.originalEvent instead ofmyEvent)

You can use JSON objects in your databases (do not forget use == and !== operators for deep comparison of objects):

alasql>SELECT VALUE {a:'1',b:'2'}{a:1,b:2}alasql>SELECT VALUE {a:'1',b:'2'}== {a:'1',b:'2'}truealasql>SELECT VALUE {a:'1',b:'2'}->b2alasql>SELECT VALUE {a:'1',b:(2*2)}->b4

Try AlaSQL JSON objects in Console [sample](http://alasql.org/console?drop table if exists one;create table one;insert into one values {a:@[1,2,3],c:{e:23}}, {a:@[{b:@[1,2,3]}]};select * from one)

Useful stuff, but there might be dragons

AlaSQL is a multi-paradigm database with support for graphs that can be searched or manipulated.

// Who loves lovers of Alice?varres=alasql('SEARCH / ANY(>> >> #Alice) name');console.log(res);// ['Olga','Helen']

See morein the wiki

You can use browser localStorage andDOM-storage as a data storage. Here is a sample:

alasql('CREATE localStorage DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS Atlas');alasql('ATTACH localStorage DATABASE Atlas AS MyAtlas');alasql('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS MyAtlas.City (city string, population number)');alasql('SELECT * INTO MyAtlas.City FROM ?',[[{city:'Vienna',population:1731000},{city:'Budapest',population:1728000},],]);varres=alasql('SELECT * FROM MyAtlas.City');

Try this sample injsFiddle. Run this sampletwo or three times, and AlaSQL store more and more data in localStorage. Here, "Atlas" isthe name of localStorage database, where "MyAtlas" is a memory AlaSQL database.

You can use localStorage in two modes:SET AUTOCOMMIT ON to immediate save datato localStorage after each statement orSET AUTOCOMMIT OFF. In this case, you needto useCOMMIT statement to save all data from in-memory mirror to localStorage.

AlaSQL supports plugins. To install a plugin you need to use theREQUIRE statement. See morein the wiki

Yes, you can even use AlaSQL as a very simple server for tests.

To run enter the command:

$ alaserver

then openhttp://127.0.0.1:1337/?SELECT%20VALUE%20(2*2) in your browser

Warning: Alaserver is not multi-threaded, not concurrent, and not secured.

AlaSQL currently has over 1200 regression tests, but they only coverof the codebase.

AlaSQL usesmocha for regression tests. Installmocha and run

$ npmtest

or opentest/index.html for in-browser tests (Please serve via localhost with, for example,http-server).

You can use AlaSQL'sASSERT operator to test the results of previous operation:

CREATETABLEone (aINT);             ASSERT1;INSERT INTO oneVALUES (1),(2),(3);   ASSERT3;SELECT*FROM oneORDER BY aDESC;    ASSERT [{a:3},{a:2},{a:1}];

AlaSQL usesSQLLOGICTEST to test its compatibility with SQL-99. The tests include about 2 million queries and statements.

The testruns can be found in thetestlog.

To rebuild the parser, follow these steps:

• Make changes to alasqlparser.jison
• npm install -g jison
• npm run jison
• npm test to validate the changes made
• Commit changes to alasqlparser.jison and alasqlparser.js

SeeContributing for details.

Thanks to all the people who already contributed!

Main contributors

• Andrey Gershun
• Mathias Rangel Wulff

AlaSQL is anOPEN Open Source Project. This means that:

Individuals making significant and valuable contributions are given commit-access to the project to contribute as they see fit. This project is more like an open wiki than a standard guarded open source project.

We appreciate any and all contributions we can get. If you feel like contributing, have a look atCONTRIBUTING.md

We extend our heartfelt thanks to each and every sponsor for generously supporting the AlaSQL open-source project by providing infrastructure at no cost. Their contributions enhance the development experience, and we highly recommend exploring their offerings.

Blacksmith significantly improves the speed of our GitHub Actions workflows by offering more powerful machines and enhanced caching mechanisms. Transitining was a one-line change and it has reduced our automated test times from 70-90 seconds to 15-17 seconds.

BrowserStack enables us to run automated tests in real browsers on physical devices to help us identify cross-browser issues early.

TheOpen Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) provides automated tools to evaluate and monitor the development practices in our repository, ensuring we maintain high standards of security and reliability.

MIT - seeMIT licence information

Many thanks to:

• Zach Carter forJison parser-generator
• Andrew Kent forJS SQL Parser
• Eli Grey forFileSaver.js
• SheetJS forJS XLSX Library

and other people for useful tools, which make our work much easier.

• AlaX - Export to Excel with colors and formats
• AlaMDX - JavaScript MDX OLAP library (work in progress)
• Other similar projects - list of databases on JavaScript

© 2014-2025, Andrey Gershun (agershun@gmail.com) & Mathias Rangel Wulff (m@rawu.dk)

Seethis article for a bit of information about the motivation and background.