JSqlParser Turn any SQL statement into a traversable tree of Java objects -- and back again. An RDBMS-agnostic SQL parser for the JVM: one grammar, twelve dialects, no native extensions.

Website · Samples · Syntax · Change Log · Contributing

Give it SQL. Get an AST you can walk, rewrite, and print back out.

SELECT 1 FROM dual WHERE a = b

SQL Text
 └─Statements: statement.select.PlainSelect
    ├─selectItems: statement.select.SelectItem
    │  └─LongValue: 1
    ├─Table: dual
    └─where: expression.operators.relational.EqualsTo
       ├─Column: a
       └─Column: b

String sqlStr = "select 1 from dual where a=b";

PlainSelect select = (PlainSelect) CCJSqlParserUtil.parse(sqlStr);

SelectItem selectItem = select.getSelectItems().get(0);
Assertions.assertEquals(new LongValue(1), selectItem.getExpression());

Table table = (Table) select.getFromItem();
Assertions.assertEquals("dual", table.getName());

EqualsTo equalsTo = (EqualsTo) select.getWhere();
Column a = (Column) equalsTo.getLeftExpression();
Column b = (Column) equalsTo.getRightExpression();
Assertions.assertEquals("a", a.getColumnName());
Assertions.assertEquals("b", b.getColumnName());

The tree is traversable with the Visitor pattern, and the same object model works in reverse: build statements from Java with a fluent API and render them as SQL text.

Use the stable Manticore builds. They are released continuously from the current development line and carry all of the performance and grammar work described below. The upstream com.github.jsqlparser release on Maven Central is considerably older.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.manticore-projects.jsqlformatter</groupId>
    <artifactId>jsqlparser</artifactId>
    <version>[5.3.218,)</version>
</dependency>

implementation("com.manticore-projects.jsqlformatter:jsqlparser:+")

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.github.jsqlparser</groupId>
    <artifactId>jsqlparser</artifactId>
    <version>5.3</version>
</dependency>

11× faster than 5.3, and the fastest parser on real-world SQL of any of the parsers tested, in any language — 19× ahead of sqlglot[c] on JSqlParser's own SELECT test suite.

Benchmark                               (version)  Mode  Cnt   Score   Error  Units
JSQLParserBenchmark.parseSQLStatements     latest  avgt   15   7.602 ± 0.135  ms/op
JSQLParserBenchmark.parseSQLStatements        5.3  avgt   15  84.687 ± 3.321  ms/op

Methodology and the full cross-parser comparison against SQLGlot, sqlglot[c] and polyglot-sql: jsqlparser-bench.

JSqlParser targets the SQL standard plus all major RDBMS. One grammar covers all of them, and missing syntax gets added on demand — open an issue.

Beyond statement shapes, the grammar handles nested sub-selects, bind parameters (?, :name), window and analytic functions, Oracle hints, and the T-SQL square-bracket versus array-literal ambiguity. The complete reference is on the syntax page.

Support is progressing for Piped SQL, which writes queries in the order they actually execute rather than the order SQL historically demanded.

FROM Produce
|> WHERE
    item != 'bananas'
    AND category IN ('fruit', 'nut')
|> AGGREGATE COUNT(*) AS num_items, SUM(sales) AS total_sales
   GROUP BY item
|> ORDER BY item DESC;

Background reading: the Google research paper, BigQuery pipe syntax and DuckDB FROM-first syntax.

• JSQLFormatter — pretty-printing and formatting of SQL text
• JSQLTranspiler — dialect-specific rewriting, column resolution and lineage, by Starlake.ai

The dual-licensed JOOQ ships a hand-written parser with broad RDBMS support, cross-dialect translation, SQL transformation, and a JDBC proxy mode. Worth a look if translation between dialects is your primary need rather than AST access.

A huge thank you to Starlake.ai, who simplify data ingestion, transformation and orchestration for faster delivery of high-quality data. Starlake has been instrumental in providing Piped SQL support and a large number of test cases for BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks and DuckDB. If JSqlParser is useful to you, visit Starlake.ai and give them a star.

1. Samples
2. Build instructions and Maven artifact
3. Contribution guide
4. Change log
5. Issues

Dual licensed under LGPL 2.1 or the Apache License, Version 2.0. Take your pick.