Release: 1.3.2 | Release Date: April 2, 2019

# SQLAlchemy 1.3 Documentation

# SQL and Generic Functions

SQL functions which are known to SQLAlchemy with regards to database-specific rendering, return types and argument behavior. Generic functions are invoked like all SQL functions, using the `func` attribute:

    select([func.count()]).select_from(sometable)

Note that any name not known to `func` generates the function name as is - there is no restriction on what SQL functions can be called, known or unknown to SQLAlchemy, built-in or user defined. The section here only describes those functions where SQLAlchemy already knows what argument and return types are in use.

SQL function API, factories, and built-in functions.

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``AnsiFunction`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  `identifier` = 'AnsiFunction'
  `name` = 'AnsiFunction'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``Function`(name, *clauses, **kw)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.FunctionElement`

  Describe a named SQL function.

  See the superclass `FunctionElement` for a description of public methods.

  See also

  `func` - namespace which produces registered or ad-hoc `Function` instances.

  `GenericFunction` - allows creation of registered function types.

  `__init__`(name, *clauses, **kw)

    Construct a `Function`.

    The `func` construct is normally used to construct new `Function` instances.

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``FunctionAsBinary`(fn, left_index, right_index)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.expression.BinaryExpression`

  `left`
  `right`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``FunctionElement`(*clauses, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.expression.Executable`, `sqlalchemy.sql.expression.ColumnElement`, `sqlalchemy.sql.expression.FromClause`

  Base for SQL function-oriented constructs.

  See also

  `Function` - named SQL function.

  `func` - namespace which produces registered or ad-hoc `Function` instances.

  `GenericFunction` - allows creation of registered function types.

  `__init__`(*clauses, **kwargs)

    Construct a `FunctionElement`.

  `alias`(name=None, flat=False)

    Produce a `Alias` construct against this `FunctionElement`.

    This construct wraps the function in a named alias which is suitable for the FROM clause, in the style accepted for example by PostgreSQL.

    e.g.:

        from sqlalchemy.sql import column

        stmt = select([column('data_view')]).\
            select_from(SomeTable).\
            select_from(func.unnest(SomeTable.data).alias('data_view')
        )

    Would produce:

        SELECT data_view
        FROM sometable, unnest(sometable.data) AS data_view

    New in version 0.9.8: The `FunctionElement.alias()` method is now supported. Previously, this method’s behavior was undefined and did not behave consistently across versions.

  `as_comparison`(left_index, right_index)

    Interpret this expression as a boolean comparison between two values.

    A hypothetical SQL function “is_equal()” which compares to values for equality would be written in the Core expression language as:

        expr = func.is_equal("a", "b")

    If “is_equal()” above is comparing “a” and “b” for equality, the `FunctionElement.as_comparison()` method would be invoked as:

        expr = func.is_equal("a", "b").as_comparison(1, 2)

    Where above, the integer value “1” refers to the first argument of the “is_equal()” function and the integer value “2” refers to the second.

    This would create a `BinaryExpression` that is equivalent to:

        BinaryExpression("a", "b", operator=op.eq)

    However, at the SQL level it would still render as “is_equal(‘a’, ‘b’)”.

    The ORM, when it loads a related object or collection, needs to be able to manipulate the “left” and “right” sides of the ON clause of a JOIN expression. The purpose of this method is to provide a SQL function construct that can also supply this information to the ORM, when used with the `relationship.primaryjoin` parameter. The return value is a containment object called `FunctionAsBinary`.

    An ORM example is as follows:

        class Venue(Base):
            __tablename__ = 'venue'
            id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
            name = Column(String)

            descendants = relationship(
                "Venue",
                primaryjoin=func.instr(
                    remote(foreign(name)), name + "/"
                ).as_comparison(1, 2) == 1,
                viewonly=True,
                order_by=name
            )

    Above, the “Venue” class can load descendant “Venue” objects by determining if the name of the parent Venue is contained within the start of the hypothetical descendant value’s name, e.g. “parent1” would match up to “parent1/child1”, but not to “parent2/child1”.

    Possible use cases include the “materialized path” example given above, as well as making use of special SQL functions such as geometric functions to create join conditions.

    Parameters

      - left_index – the integer 1-based index of the function argument that serves as the “left” side of the expression.

      - right_index – the integer 1-based index of the function argument that serves as the “right” side of the expression.

    New in version 1.3.

  `clauses`

    Return the underlying `ClauseList` which contains the arguments for this `FunctionElement`.

  `columns`

    The set of columns exported by this `FunctionElement`.

    Function objects currently have no result column names built in; this method returns a single-element column collection with an anonymously named column.

    An interim approach to providing named columns for a function as a FROM clause is to build a `select()` with the desired columns:

        from sqlalchemy.sql import column

        stmt = select([column('x'), column('y')]).                select_from(func.myfunction())

  `execute`()

    Execute this `FunctionElement` against an embedded ‘bind’.

    This first calls `select()` to produce a SELECT construct.

    Note that `FunctionElement` can be passed to the `Connectable.execute()` method of `Connection` or `Engine`.

  `filter`(*criterion)

    Produce a FILTER clause against this function.

    Used against aggregate and window functions, for database backends that support the “FILTER” clause.

    The expression:

        func.count(1).filter(True)

    is shorthand for:

        from sqlalchemy import funcfilter
        funcfilter(func.count(1), True)

    New in version 1.0.0.

    See also

    `FunctionFilter`

    `funcfilter()`

  `get_children`(**kwargs)

    Return immediate child elements of this `ClauseElement`.

    This is used for visit traversal.

    **kwargs may contain flags that change the collection that is returned, for example to return a subset of items in order to cut down on larger traversals, or to return child items from a different context (such as schema-level collections instead of clause-level).

  `over`(partition_by=None, order_by=None, rows=None, range_=None)

    Produce an OVER clause against this function.

    Used against aggregate or so-called “window” functions, for database backends that support window functions.

    The expression:

        func.row_number().over(order_by='x')

    is shorthand for:

        from sqlalchemy import over
        over(func.row_number(), order_by='x')

    See `over()` for a full description.

  `packagenames` = ()
  `scalar`()

    Execute this `FunctionElement` against an embedded ‘bind’ and return a scalar value.

    This first calls `select()` to produce a SELECT construct.

    Note that `FunctionElement` can be passed to the `Connectable.scalar()` method of `Connection` or `Engine`.

  `select`()

    Produce a `select()` construct against this `FunctionElement`.

    This is shorthand for:

        s = select([function_element])

  `self_group`(against=None)

    Apply a ‘grouping’ to this `ClauseElement`.

    This method is overridden by subclasses to return a “grouping” construct, i.e. parenthesis. In particular it’s used by “binary” expressions to provide a grouping around themselves when placed into a larger expression, as well as by `select()` constructs when placed into the FROM clause of another `select()`. (Note that subqueries should be normally created using the `Select.alias()` method, as many platforms require nested SELECT statements to be named).

    As expressions are composed together, the application of `self_group()` is automatic - end-user code should never need to use this method directly. Note that SQLAlchemy’s clause constructs take operator precedence into account - so parenthesis might not be needed, for example, in an expression like `x OR (y AND z)` - AND takes precedence over OR.

    The base `self_group()` method of `ClauseElement` just returns self.

  `within_group`(*order_by)

    Produce a WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY expr) clause against this function.

    Used against so-called “ordered set aggregate” and “hypothetical set aggregate” functions, including `percentile_cont`, `rank`, `dense_rank`, etc.

    See `within_group()` for a full description.

    New in version 1.1.

  `within_group_type`(within_group)

    For types that define their return type as based on the criteria within a WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY) expression, called by the `WithinGroup` construct.

    Returns None by default, in which case the function’s normal `.type` is used.

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``GenericFunction`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.Function`

  Define a ‘generic’ function.

  A generic function is a pre-established `Function` class that is instantiated automatically when called by name from the `func` attribute. Note that calling any name from `func` has the effect that a new `Function` instance is created automatically, given that name. The primary use case for defining a `GenericFunction` class is so that a function of a particular name may be given a fixed return type. It can also include custom argument parsing schemes as well as additional methods.

  Subclasses of `GenericFunction` are automatically registered under the name of the class. For example, a user-defined function `as_utc()` would be available immediately:

      from sqlalchemy.sql.functions import GenericFunction
      from sqlalchemy.types import DateTime

      class as_utc(GenericFunction):
          type = DateTime

      print select([func.as_utc()])

  User-defined generic functions can be organized into packages by specifying the “package” attribute when defining `GenericFunction`. Third party libraries containing many functions may want to use this in order to avoid name conflicts with other systems. For example, if our `as_utc()` function were part of a package “time”:

      class as_utc(GenericFunction):
          type = DateTime
          package = "time"

  The above function would be available from `func` using the package name `time`:

      print select([func.time.as_utc()])

  A final option is to allow the function to be accessed from one name in `func` but to render as a different name. The `identifier` attribute will override the name used to access the function as loaded from `func`, but will retain the usage of `name` as the rendered name:

      class GeoBuffer(GenericFunction):
          type = Geometry
          package = "geo"
          name = "ST_Buffer"
          identifier = "buffer"

  The above function will render as follows:

      >>> print func.geo.buffer()
      ST_Buffer()

  `coerce_arguments` = True
  `identifier` = 'GenericFunction'
  `name` = 'GenericFunction'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``OrderedSetAgg`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Define a function where the return type is based on the sort expression type as defined by the expression passed to the `FunctionElement.within_group()` method.

  `array_for_multi_clause` = False
  `identifier` = 'OrderedSetAgg'
  `name` = 'OrderedSetAgg'
  `within_group_type`(within_group)

    For types that define their return type as based on the criteria within a WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY) expression, called by the `WithinGroup` construct.

    Returns None by default, in which case the function’s normal `.type` is used.

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``ReturnTypeFromArgs`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Define a function whose return type is the same as its arguments.

  `identifier` = 'ReturnTypeFromArgs'
  `name` = 'ReturnTypeFromArgs'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``array_agg`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  support for the ARRAY_AGG function.

  The `func.array_agg(expr)` construct returns an expression of type `types.ARRAY`.

  e.g.:

      stmt = select([func.array_agg(table.c.values)[2:5]])

  New in version 1.1.

  See also

  `postgresql.array_agg()` - PostgreSQL-specific version that returns `postgresql.ARRAY`, which has PG-specific operators added.

  `identifier` = 'array_agg'
  `name` = 'array_agg'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.ARRAY`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``char_length`(arg, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  `identifier` = 'char_length'
  `name` = 'char_length'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.Integer`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``coalesce`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.ReturnTypeFromArgs`

  `identifier` = 'coalesce'
  `name` = 'coalesce'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``concat`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  `identifier` = 'concat'
  `name` = 'concat'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.String`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``count`(expression=None, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  The ANSI COUNT aggregate function. With no arguments, emits COUNT *.

  E.g.:

      from sqlalchemy import func
      from sqlalchemy import select
      from sqlalchemy import table, column

      my_table = table('some_table', column('id'))

      stmt = select([func.count()]).select_from(my_table)

  Executing `stmt` would emit:

      SELECT count(*) AS count_1
      FROM some_table

  `identifier` = 'count'
  `name` = 'count'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.Integer`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``cube`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Implement the `CUBE` grouping operation.

  This function is used as part of the GROUP BY of a statement, e.g. `Select.group_by()`:

      stmt = select(
          [func.sum(table.c.value), table.c.col_1, table.c.col_2]
          ).group_by(func.cube(table.c.col_1, table.c.col_2))

  New in version 1.2.

  `identifier` = 'cube'
  `name` = 'cube'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``cume_dist`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Implement the `cume_dist` hypothetical-set aggregate function.

  This function must be used with the `FunctionElement.within_group()` modifier to supply a sort expression to operate upon.

  The return type of this function is `Numeric`.

  New in version 1.1.

  `identifier` = 'cume_dist'
  `name` = 'cume_dist'
  `type` = Numeric()

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``current_date`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'current_date'
  `name` = 'current_date'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.Date`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``current_time`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'current_time'
  `name` = 'current_time'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.Time`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``current_timestamp`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'current_timestamp'
  `name` = 'current_timestamp'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.DateTime`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``current_user`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'current_user'
  `name` = 'current_user'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.String`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``dense_rank`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Implement the `dense_rank` hypothetical-set aggregate function.

  This function must be used with the `FunctionElement.within_group()` modifier to supply a sort expression to operate upon.

  The return type of this function is `Integer`.

  New in version 1.1.

  `identifier` = 'dense_rank'
  `name` = 'dense_rank'
  `type` = Integer()

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``grouping_sets`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Implement the `GROUPING SETS` grouping operation.

  This function is used as part of the GROUP BY of a statement, e.g. `Select.group_by()`:

      stmt = select(
          [func.sum(table.c.value), table.c.col_1, table.c.col_2]
      ).group_by(func.grouping_sets(table.c.col_1, table.c.col_2))

  In order to group by multiple sets, use the `tuple_()` construct:

      from sqlalchemy import tuple_

      stmt = select(
          [
              func.sum(table.c.value),
              table.c.col_1, table.c.col_2,
              table.c.col_3]
      ).group_by(
          func.grouping_sets(
              tuple_(table.c.col_1, table.c.col_2),
              tuple_(table.c.value, table.c.col_3),
          )
      )

  New in version 1.2.

  `identifier` = 'grouping_sets'
  `name` = 'grouping_sets'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``localtime`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'localtime'
  `name` = 'localtime'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.DateTime`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``localtimestamp`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'localtimestamp'
  `name` = 'localtimestamp'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.DateTime`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``max`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.ReturnTypeFromArgs`

  `identifier` = 'max'
  `name` = 'max'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``min`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.ReturnTypeFromArgs`

  `identifier` = 'min'
  `name` = 'min'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``mode`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.OrderedSetAgg`

  implement the `mode` ordered-set aggregate function.

  This function must be used with the `FunctionElement.within_group()` modifier to supply a sort expression to operate upon.

  The return type of this function is the same as the sort expression.

  New in version 1.1.

  `identifier` = 'mode'
  `name` = 'mode'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``next_value`(seq, **kw)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Represent the ‘next value’, given a `Sequence` as its single argument.

  Compiles into the appropriate function on each backend, or will raise NotImplementedError if used on a backend that does not provide support for sequences.

  `identifier` = 'next_value'
  `name` = 'next_value'
  `type` = Integer()

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``now`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  `identifier` = 'now'
  `name` = 'now'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.DateTime`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``percent_rank`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Implement the `percent_rank` hypothetical-set aggregate function.

  This function must be used with the `FunctionElement.within_group()` modifier to supply a sort expression to operate upon.

  The return type of this function is `Numeric`.

  New in version 1.1.

  `identifier` = 'percent_rank'
  `name` = 'percent_rank'
  `type` = Numeric()

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``percentile_cont`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.OrderedSetAgg`

  implement the `percentile_cont` ordered-set aggregate function.

  This function must be used with the `FunctionElement.within_group()` modifier to supply a sort expression to operate upon.

  The return type of this function is the same as the sort expression, or if the arguments are an array, an `types.ARRAY` of the sort expression’s type.

  New in version 1.1.

  `array_for_multi_clause` = True
  `identifier` = 'percentile_cont'
  `name` = 'percentile_cont'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``percentile_disc`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.OrderedSetAgg`

  implement the `percentile_disc` ordered-set aggregate function.

  This function must be used with the `FunctionElement.within_group()` modifier to supply a sort expression to operate upon.

  The return type of this function is the same as the sort expression, or if the arguments are an array, an `types.ARRAY` of the sort expression’s type.

  New in version 1.1.

  `array_for_multi_clause` = True
  `identifier` = 'percentile_disc'
  `name` = 'percentile_disc'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``random`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  `identifier` = 'random'
  `name` = 'random'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``rank`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Implement the `rank` hypothetical-set aggregate function.

  This function must be used with the `FunctionElement.within_group()` modifier to supply a sort expression to operate upon.

  The return type of this function is `Integer`.

  New in version 1.1.

  `identifier` = 'rank'
  `name` = 'rank'
  `type` = Integer()

`sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``register_function`(identifier, fn, package='_default')

  Associate a callable with a particular func. name.

  This is normally called by _GenericMeta, but is also available by itself so that a non-Function construct can be associated with the `func` accessor (i.e. CAST, EXTRACT).

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``rollup`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.GenericFunction`

  Implement the `ROLLUP` grouping operation.

  This function is used as part of the GROUP BY of a statement, e.g. `Select.group_by()`:

      stmt = select(
          [func.sum(table.c.value), table.c.col_1, table.c.col_2]
      ).group_by(func.rollup(table.c.col_1, table.c.col_2))

  New in version 1.2.

  `identifier` = 'rollup'
  `name` = 'rollup'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``session_user`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'session_user'
  `name` = 'session_user'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.String`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``sum`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.ReturnTypeFromArgs`

  `identifier` = 'sum'
  `name` = 'sum'

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``sysdate`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'sysdate'
  `name` = 'sysdate'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.DateTime`

class `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.``user`(*args, **kwargs)

  Bases: `sqlalchemy.sql.functions.AnsiFunction`

  `identifier` = 'user'
  `name` = 'user'
  `type`

    alias of `sqlalchemy.sql.sqltypes.String`