Primitives​

Scalar types​

Custom scalar types can also be declared. For full documentation, see SDL > Scalar types.

Enums​

To represent an enum, declare a custom scalar that extends the abstract enum type.

scalar type Color extending enum<Red, Green, Blue>;

type Shirt {
  color: Color;
}

For a full reference on enum types, see the Enum docs.

Arrays​

Arrays store zero or more primitive values of the same type in an ordered list. Arrays cannot contain object types or other arrays.

type Person {
  str_array: array<str>;
  json_array: array<json>;

  # INVALID: arrays of object types not allowed
  # friends: array<Person>

  # INVALID: arrays cannot be nested
  # nested_array: array<array<str>>
}

For a full reference on array types, see the Array docs.

Tuples​

Like arrays, tuples are ordered sequences of primitive data. Unlike arrays, each element of a tuple can have a distinct type. Tuple elements can be any type, including primitives, objects, arrays, and other tuples.

type Person {

  unnamed_tuple: tuple<str, bool, int64>;
  nested_tuple: tuple<tuple<str, tuple<bool, int64>>>;
  tuple_of_arrays: tuple<array<str>, array<int64>>;

}

Optionally, you can assign a key to each element of the tuple. Tuples containing explicit keys are known as named tuples. You must assign keys to all elements (or none of them).

type BlogPost {
  metadata: tuple<title: str, published: bool, upvotes: int64>;
}

Named and unnamed tuples are the same data structure under the hood. You can add, remove, and change keys in a tuple type after it’s been declared. For details, see EdgeQL > Literals > Tuples.

Ranges​

Ranges represent some interval of values. The intervals can be bound or unbound on either end. They can also be empty, containing no values. Only some scalar types have corresponding range types:

• range<int32>

• range<int64>

• range<float32>

• range<float64>

• range<decimal>

• range<datetime>

• range<cal::local_datetime>

• range<cal::local_date>

type DieRoll {
  values: range<int64>;
}

For a full reference on ranges, functions and operators see the Range docs.

Sequences​

To represent an auto-incrementing integer property, declare a custom scalar that extends the abstract sequence type. Creating a sequence type initializes a global int64 counter that auto-increments whenever a new object is created. All properties that point to the same sequence type will share the counter.

scalar type ticket_number extending sequence;
type Ticket {
  number: ticket_number;
}

For a full reference on sequences, see the Sequence docs.