For
EdgeQL supports a top-level for statement. These “for loops” iterate over
each element of some input set, execute some expression with it, and merge the
results into a single output set.
db> ... ... ...
for number in {0, 1, 2, 3}
union (
select { number, number + 0.5 }
);{0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5}This statement iterates through each number in the set. Inside the loop, the
number variable is bound to a singleton set. The inner expression is
executed for every element of the input set, and the results of each execution
are merged into a single output set.
The union keyword is required prior to EdgeDB 5.0 and is intended to
indicate explicitly that the results of each loop execution are ultimately
merged.
Bulk inserts
The for statement is commonly used for bulk inserts.
db> ... ... ...
for hero_name in {'Cersi', 'Ikaris', 'Thena'}
union (
insert Hero { name := hero_name }
);{
default::Hero {id: d7d7e0f6-40ae-11ec-87b1-3f06bed494b9},
default::Hero {id: d7d7f870-40ae-11ec-87b1-f712a4efc3a5},
default::Hero {id: d7d7f8c0-40ae-11ec-87b1-6b8685d56610}
}This statement iterates through each name in the list of names. Inside the
loop, hero_name is bound to a str singleton, so it can be assigned to
Hero.name.
Instead of literal sets, it’s common to use a json
parameter for bulk inserts. This value is then “unpacked” into a set of
json elements and used inside the for loop:
db> ... ... ... ...
with
raw_data := <json>$data,
for item in json_array_unpack(raw_data) union (
insert Hero { name := <str>item['name'] }
);Parameter <json>$data: [{"name":"Sersi"},{"name":"Ikaris"},{"name":"Thena"}]
{
default::Hero {id: d7d7e0f6-40ae-11ec-87b1-3f06bed494b9},
default::Hero {id: d7d7f870-40ae-11ec-87b1-f712a4efc3a5},
default::Hero {id: d7d7f8c0-40ae-11ec-87b1-6b8685d56610}
}A similar approach can be used for bulk updates.
Conditional DML
DML is now supported in if..else. The method of achieving conditional
DML demonstrated below is a workaround for earlier versions of EdgeDB
before this support was introduced in EdgeDB 4.0. If you’re on EdgeDB 4.0
or higher, use if..else for a cleaner way to achieve conditional
DML.
DML (i.e., insert, update,
delete) is not supported in if..else. If you
need to do one of these conditionally, you can use a for loop as a
workaround. For example, you might want to write this conditional:
# 🚫 Does not work
with admin := (select User filter .role = 'admin')
select admin if exists admin
else (insert User {role := 'admin'});Because of the lack of support for DML in a conditional, this query will fail. Here’s how you can accomplish the same thing using the workaround:
# ✅ Works!
with
admin := (select User filter .role = 'admin'),
new := (for _ in (select () filter not exists admin) union (
insert User {role := 'admin'}
)),
select {admin, new};The admin alias represents the condition we want to test for. In this case,
“do we have a User object with a value of admin for the role
property?” In the new alias, we write a for loop with a select
query that will produce a set with a single value if that object we queried for
does not exist. (You can use exists instead of not exists in the
nested select inside the for loop if you don’t want to invert the
condition.)
A set with a single value results in a single iteration of the for loop.
Inside that loop, we run our conditional DML — in this case to insert an admin
user. Then we select both aliases to execute both of their queries. The
query will return the User object. This in effect gives us a query that
will insert a User object with a role of admin if none exists or
return that object if it does exist.
If you’re trying to conditionally run DML in response to a violation of an exclusivity constraint, you don’t need this workaround. You should use unless conflict instead.
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