This document provides an overview and user manual for Alasql, an open source JavaScript SQL database library. Alasql allows users to execute SQL statements on JavaScript data and interface with external databases using a familiar SQL syntax. The document covers key features like SQL data querying and manipulation, database definition/management, integration with JavaScript frameworks and Node.js, and processing of file-based data formats. Usage examples demonstrate both synchronous and asynchronous execution of SQL on in-memory and indexed database data sources.

1. ALASQL:
JAVASCRIPT SQL
DATABASE LIBRARY
User Manual
version 0.0.35
© 2014 Andrey Gershun
alasql.org
à la
SQL

2. Content
I. About Alasql
II. SQL data language
III. JavaScript API
IV. Persistence and external databases
V. JSON, TXT, CSV, TSV, and Excel data processing
VI. JavaScript frameworks: Angular.js, d3.js
VII. Command-line utilities: Alacon, Alaserver

3. I. ABOUT ALASQL

4. Alasql
• JavaScript SQL database library designed for:
• Client-side SQL database with persistence
• Fast data processing for BI and ERP applications
• JS data manipulation and advanced filtering, grouping and joining
• Easy ETL (extract, transfer, and loading) data in CSV and XLSX
formats
• Works in browser, Node.js, mobile applications

5. Alasql in Internet
• GitHub
• http://github.com/agershun/alasql
• Official site
• http://alasql.org

6. Installation and Usage
• Installation:
• In the browser
• Copy file (production)
• dist/alasql.min.js
• Or (debug)
• dist/alasql.js
• dist/alasql.js.map
• In Node.js
• npm install alasql
• Usage:
• In the browser
• <script src=‘alasql.js’></script>
• AMD module
• require([‘alasql’],
function(alasql){ /* body */ });
• In Node.js
• var alasql = require(‘alasql’);

7. Quick Start
// Advanced JavaScript data processing (sync. with parameters)
var data = [{a:1,b:1,c:1},{a:1,b:2,c:1},{a:1,b:3,c:1}, {a:2,b:1,c:1}];
var res = alasql('SELECT a, COUNT(*) AS b FROM ? GROUP BY a',[data]);
console.log(res);
// Work with IndexedDB database with SQL (async, multiple SQL statements)
alasql(’ATTACH INDEXEDDB DATABASE MyBase;
USE MyBase;
SELECT City.*
FROM City
JOIN Country USING CountryCode
WHERE Country.Continent = ”Asia”’, [], function (res) {
console.log(res.pop());
});

8. II. ALASQL:
SQL DATA LANGUAGE
Data Querying, Manipulation, and Definition

9. Alasql SQL statements
• Data query
• SELECT
• Data manipulation
• INSERT
• UPDATE
• DELETE
• Data definition
• CREATE TABLE
• ALTER TABLE
• DROP TABLE
• Database
• USE DATABASE
• CREATE DATABASE
• DROP DATABASE
• External database
• ATTACH DATABASE
• DETACH DATABASE
• Transactions
• BEGIN
• COMMIT
• ROLLBACK
• Show
• SHOW DATABASES
• SHOW TABLES
• SHOW CREATE TABLE
• Program
• SET
• SOURCE
• Debug
• ASSERT
• Information
• HELP

10. Statements
• Single statement
• Return value
• Query result
• [{a:1},{a:2}]
• Number of rows processed
• 362
• Number of database object
processed (e.g. tables
dropped)
• 1 / 0
• Multiple statements
• Separated by semicolon
• “CREATE DATABASE test;
USE test1”
• Return value
• Array of return values of
each of statements
• [1,0, [{a:1},{a:2}]]

11. Case-Sensitive
• Case insensitive
• SQL Keywords (SELECT)
• Standard functions (LEN)
• Aggregators (SUM)
• Engines (INDEXEDDB)
• FROM-functions (TXT)
• INTO-functions (XLSX)
• Same:
• SELECT * FROM city
• select * from city
• Case sensitive
• Database names
• Table names
• Columns
• User-defined functions
• JSON properties and
functions
• JavaScript classes
• Different:
• SELECT * FROM city
• SELECT * FROM City
• SELECT * FROM CITY

12. SELECT
• SELECT
• TOP / LIMIT FETCH
• DISTINCT
• INTO
• FROM
• JOIN ON / USING
• GROUP BY
• HAVING
• WHERE
• ORDER BY
• UNION / INTERSECT /
EXCEPT
• Value modifiers
• VALUE, COLUMN, ROW,
MATRIX …
• Columns
• City.Name, City.*, Population
AS p
• Operators
• w*h+20
• Aggregators
• SUM(), COUNT(),..
• Function
• LCASE(), LEN(), ..

13. Return Value Modifier
• SELECT By default
• returns array of objects
• [{a:1,b:10},{a:2,b:20}]
• SELECT VALUE
• returns first value of first row
• 1
• SELECT COLUMN
• returns first column from all rows
• [1,2]
• SELECT ROW
• returns values of all columns of first
row
• [1,10]
• SELECT MATRIX
• returns array of arrays
• [[1,10],[2,20]]
• Return number of all lines in
README.md
• SELECT VALUE COUNT(*) FROM
TXT(‘README.md’)
• Return array of arrays:
• SELECT MATRIX * FROM one

14. SELECT columns
• Columns
• SELECT size
• SELECT City.Name,
City.Population
• Expressions
• SELECT LCASE(City), 2+2
• Aggregators
• SELECT COUNT(*),
SUM(Population)
• Alias
• SELECT City+” “+Country
AS LongName
• All columns from table
• SELECT *, City.*
• Columns of arrays
• SELECT [0],[1]
• Column names with
spaces, etc
• [My Column]
• `My Column`

15. Operators
• Number
• +,-,*,/
• String
• +
• Logic
• AND, OR, NOT
• =, !=, >, >=, <, <=
• Complex
• v BETWEEN a AND b
• v NOT BETWEEN a AND b
• v IN (10,20,30)
• v NOT IN (SELECT *
FROM Ages)
• v >= ANY (20,30,40)

16. Aggregators
• SQL Standard
• SUM()
• AVG()
• COUNT()
• MAX()
• MIN()
• FIRST()
• LAST()
• Non-standard
• AGGR()
• COUNT
• COUNT(one)
• COUNT(*)
• AGGR – operations on
aggregated values
• SELECT SUM(a) AS sm,
COUNT(*) AS cnt,
AGGR(sm/cnt) AS avg1,
AVG(a) AS avg2
FROM data
• Here: avg1 = avg2

17. Functions
• Compile-time standard
library
• String functions
• Number functions
• Logical functions
• Date-time functions
• Run-time standard
library
• User-defined functions
• Into-functions
• From-functions
• ABS(), IIF(), IFNULL(),
INSTR(), LOWER(),
UPPER(), LCASE(),
UCASE(), LEN(),
LENGTH()
• YEAR(date),
DAYOFWEEK(date)

18. TOP / LIMIT FETCH
// Select top 10 records
SELECT TOP 10 * FROM Cities ORDER BY Name
// Select 20 records starting from record number 5
SELECT * FROM Cities ORDER BY Name LIMIT 20 FETCH 5

19. DISTINCT
• Select distinct values
• SELECT DISTINCT MID(Name,1,1) FROM City

20. INTO
• Into table
• SELECT * INTO City
FROM Capital WHERE
• SELECT * INTO
• Into external file (into-
functions)
• SELECT * INTO
CSV(‘city.csv’) FROM City
• Into stdout (for Node.js)
• SELECT * INTO TXT()
FROM City
• Into-functions
• TXT()
• JSON()
• CSV()
• TSV() / TAB()
• XLSX()

21. FROM
• From table
• SELECT * FROM albums
• SELECT * FROM mydb.test
• From parameter
• alasql(‘SELECT * FROM
?’,[singers]);
• From file (from function)
• SELECT * FROM
XLSX(“medals.xlsx”)
• From stdin (for Node.js)
• SELECT * FROM TXT()
• FROM table alias
• SELECT * FROM ? City
• SELECT * FROM album AS a
• From SELECT
• SELECT * FROM
(SELECT * FROM
(SELECT * FROM City))
• From functions
• TXT()
• JSON()
• CSV()
• TSV() / TAB()
• XLSX() / XLS()

22. From Parameter
• Array of objects
• alasql(‘SELECT
city.population FROM ? AS
city’,[city]);
• Array of arrays
• alasql(‘SELECT [0]+[1]*[2]
FROM ?’, [data]);
• Object
• alasql(“SELECT [1] FROM
? WHERE [0] =
‘one’”,[{one:1,two:2}])
• String
• alasql(“SELECT LEN([0])
FROM ?”,[“Multi n line n text”])
• Parameter data type
conversion
• String => array of lines
• SELECT * FROM ? WHERE
LEN([0]) > 10
• “abcncde” =>
[[“abc”],[“cde”]]
• Objects => array of pairs
key-value
• {a:1,b:2} => [[“a”,1],[“b”,2]]

23. JOIN
• Joins
• [INNER] JOIN
• LEFT JOIN
• RIGHT JOIN
• [FULL] OUTER JOIN
• ANTI JOIN
• SEMI JOIN
• CROSS JOIN
• NATURAL JOIN
• USING
• SELECT city.*, country.*
FROM city
JOIN country
USING countryid
• ON
• SELECT city.*, country.*
FROM city
JOIN country
ON city.countryid =
country.countryid

24. WHERE
• Expression
• SELECT * FROM City
WHERE Population >
1000000
• EXIST() / NOT EXIST()
• SELECT * FROM City
WHERE EXIST(SELECT
* FROM Capital WHERE
City.Name =
Capital.Name)

25. GROUP BY
• Grouping
• SELECT * FROM City
GROUP BY Contient,
Country
• Grouping functions
• CUBE()
• ROLLUP()
• GROUPING SETS()
• SELECT * FROM City
GROUP BY
ROLLUP(Continent,
Country)

26. HAVING
• Filtering groups
• SELECT *, COUNT(*) AS cnt
FROM City
GROUP BY Country
HAVING cnt > 2

27. ORDER BY
• Ascending
• SELECT * FROM City
ORDER BY Population
• SELECT * FROM City
ORDER BY Population
ASC
• Descending
• SELECT * FROM City
ORDER BY Name
DESC

28. UNION / INTERSECT / EXCEPT
• SELECT 10
UNION ALL
SELECT 20
• UNION
• UNION ALL
• INTERSECT
• EXCEPT / MINUS

29. INSERT values
• VALUES
• INSERT INTO city (name, population) VALUES
(“Moscow”,11500000), (“Kyiv”,5000000)
• INSERT INTO city VALUES (“Paris”,3500000)
• INSERT INTO city VALUES {name:”Berlin”, population:4000000}
• DEFAULT VALUES
• INSERT INTO city DEFAULT VALUES
• SELECT (= SELECT INTO)
• INSERT INTO city SELECT capital AS name FROM country
GROUP BY capital;

30. UPDATE
• UPDATE city SET population = LEN(name) * 1000000
WHERE name LIKE ‘M%’

31. DELETE
• DELETE FROM star
• DELETE FROM star WHERE name LIKE ‘A%’

32. CREATE TABLE
DROP TABLE
• CREATE TABLE star (
one INT DEFAULT 100,
two STRING,
three BOOL PRIMARY KEY
);
• DROP TABLE star;

33. ALTER TABLE
• ADD COLUMN
• ALTER TABLE City ADD COLUMN Continent STRING
• RENAME COLUMN
• ALTER TABLE City RENAME COLUMN Continent TO WorldPart
• DROP COLUMN
• ALTER TABLE City DROP COLUMN Continent
• RENAME TO
• ALTER TABLE City RENAME TO Capital

34. CREATE DATABASE /
DROP DATABASE / USE DATABASE
• Create database
• CREATE DATABASE mydb
• Select default database
• USE DATABASE mydb
• USE mydb
• Drop database
• DROP DATABASE mydb

35. Transaction
• Begin
• BEGIN
• Commit
• COMMIT
• Rollback
• ROLLBACK
• In version 0.0.35 Alasql supports transactions only for
Local Storage and DOM-storage database. Full support
for other databases will be available in future versions

36. SHOW
• SHOW DATABASES – list of all databases in memory
• SHOW DATABASES LIKE ‘A%’
• SHOW TABLES – list of tables in database
• SHOW TABLES FROM mydb
• SHOW CREATE TABLE table – show CREATE TABLE
statement from the table
• SHOW CREATE TABLE City

37. SET, SOURCE, ASSERT, HELP
• SET - now used only for one option:
• SET AUTOCOMMIT ON / OFF
• SOURCE “file.sql” – read and execute all SQL statements from
file
• SOURCE ‘world.sql’
• ASSERT value – throws error if result of last operation is not
equal to value (Alasql uses equalDeep() function for
comparision)
• ASSERT 1
• ASSERT “Wrong Value”, [{a:1,b:”Odessa”}]
• HELP
• Show list of available commands

38. III. ALASQL:
JAVASCRIPT API
Library Interface

39. SQL and JavaScript:
Better Together!
SQL way
alasql(‘CREATE DATABASE test01’);
alasql(‘USE test01’);
alasql(‘CREATE TABLE one (a INT)’);
alasql(‘INSERT INTO one VALUES (10)’):
var res = alasql(‘SELECT * FROM one’);
JavaScript way
data = [{a:1}, {a:2}, {a:3}];
alasql(‘SELECT * FROM ? WHERE a >=
?’, [data, 2]);
or
var db = new alasql.Database();
db.exec(“select * from one”, function(data)
{
console.log(data.length);
});

40. alasql - main library object and function
• alasql(sql,params,callback) – execute sql
• alasql.exec(sql,params,callback) – execute sql
• alasql.parse(sql) – parse to AST (abstract syntax tree)
• ast.compile(databaseid) – compile statement and cache it
in database cache
• alasql.exec(sql) – execute statement
• alasql.use(databaseid) – use database
• alasql.pretty(sql) – pretty SQL output in HTML and TXT
• alasql.options - options

41. alasql() - main function
• alasql(sql,[params],[callback])
• sql – one or some SQL-statements separated by ‘;’
• If one statement – alasql() returns one value
• USE test12 => 1
• SELECT * FROM one => [{a:1}, {a:2}]
• If some statements – alasql() returns array of values, one for each
statement
• USE test12; SELECT * FROM one => [1,[{a:1}, {a:2}]]
• params – an array of parameters of SQL statement
• You can use ? in SQL statement
• alasql(‘SELECT a FROM ? WHERE b = ?’,[[{a:1,b:1}, {a:2,b:2}],2])
• callback – a callback function
• Without callback alasql() runs synchroniously
• With callback alasql() runs asynchroniously with callbacks

42. alasql(): sync and async
• Sync version
• var result = alasql(sql,
params)
• Async version
• alasql(sql, params,
function(result) {
// do something
//with result
});
• It is impossible to use
sync version with
async operations like:
• IndexedDB functions
• INTO- and FROM-
functions

43. Compatibility functions
• WebSQL
• var db = new alasql.Database(‘mydb’);
• db.exec(‘SELECT * FROM City”);

44. Alasql options
• alasql.options
• alasql.options.valueof (true/false) – convert all values with
.valueOf() function before comparing
• alasql.options.angularjs (true/false) – remove $$hashKey from
result arrays if angular.js library loaded

45. How Alasql stores data?
• alasql.databases – list of all current databases in memory
• alasql.engines – list of all alasql available engines (like
localStorage, IndexedDB)

46. Database class
• var db = new alasql.Database(‘mydb’)
• db.databaseid – database name
• db.tables – list of tables
• db.engineid – engine (Local Storage, IndexedDB, etc.)
• db.exec(sql) – execute sql in mydb database

47. User-defined functions
• alasql.fn.cube = function(x) { return x*x*x; }
• alasql(‘SELECT cube(x) FROM ?’,[data]);

48. User-defined functions
and compiled statements
Custom functions:
alasql.fn.myfn = function(a,b) {
return a*b+1;
}
alasql(‘SELECT myfn(a,b) FROM
one’);
Compiled statements:
var ins = alasql.compile(‘INSERT
INTO one VALUES (?,?)’);
ins(1,10);
ins(2,20);
Compiled functions:
var bigSum =
alasql.compile(‘SELECT SUM(a)
FROM one WHERE a>3’, ‘value’);
var res = bigSum([10]) + 10;

49. JavaScript classes as SQL data types
• alasql.fn.Date = Date;
• alasql(‘CREATE order (
orderno INT,
orderdate Date
)’);
• Classes are case-sensitive

50. NEW (like JavaScript ‘new’ operator)
• Register class as alasql type
• alasql.fn.Date = Date;
• Use NEW
• alasql(‘SELECT NEW Date(yr,mn-1,dy) FROM orderdates’);

51. Property
• Property operator ->
• INSERT INTO one VALUES @{a:5, b:{c:[4,5]}}
• SELECT * FROM one WHERE a->b->0 = 4
• Expression
• SELECT * FROM one WHERE a->(LCASE(“B”))->(1-1) = 4

52. Call JavaScript object function
• Arrow function ->
• object -> function(parameters)
• Select lengths of all lines from text file
• alasql(‘SELECT [0]->length FROM TXT(“mytext.txt”)’
• alasql(‘SELECT LEN([0]) FROM TXT(“mytext.txt”)’

53. JavaScript object properties
• Arrow function -> property
• var data = [{a:{b:1,c:1}, {a:{b:2}}}]
• alasql(‘SELECT a->b FROM ?’,[data]);
• Array members
• SELECT a->(0) FROM data
• Calculated property names
• SELECT a->(“mon”+moid), b->(2+2) FROM data

54. Object Properties & Functions
• Object property
• a -> b
• a -> b -> c
• Array member
• a -> 1
• a -> 1 -> 2
• Calculated property
name
• a -> (1+2)
• a -> (“text” + “ “ + ”more”)
• Functions
• myTime -> getFullYear()
• s -> substr(1,2)
• JavaScript string
functions
• “ABCDE”->length
• SELECT s->length
FROM mytext

55. JSON objects
• @ prefixes (like Objective-C NSObjects)
• @1
• @”string”
• @{a:1,b:2} or {a:1,b:2}
• @[1,2,3] – conflct with column names with spaces [My Column]
• Three equal operators
• a = b like == in JavaScript
• a == b compare a.valueOf() and b.valueOf() – for dates
• a === b uses equalDeep() – for JSON objects

56. JSON with expressions
• CREATE TABLE one;
• INSERT INTO one VALUES @{b:1}, @{b:2}
• SELECT @{a:@[2014,(2014+1),(2014+b)]} FROM one
• [{a:[2014,2015,2015]}, {a:[2014,2015,2016]}]

57. CREATE TABLE AND INSERT JSON
VALUES
• JSON table
• CREATE TABLE one;
• INSERT INTO one VALUES @{a:1}, @{b:2}, @{a:1,b:2}, @1,
@”String”
• JSON object
• CREATE TABLE two (a JSON);
• INSERT INTO one VALUES (1), (‘two’), (@{b:’three’}),
@[‘F’,’O’,’U’,’R’]

58. SELECT JSON
• SELECT * FROM one
• [{a:1}, {b:2}, {a:1,b:2}, 1, ”String”]
• SELECT a FROM one
• [{a:1}, {a:undefined}, {a:1}, {a:undefined},{a:undefined}]
• SELECT * FROM one WHERE a=1
• [{a:1},{a:1,b:2}]

59. Deep equal (==, !==)
• SELECT @{a:1} == @{a:1}
• True
• SELECT * FROM one WHERE a=1
• INSERT INTO one VALUES {a:[5,6]}
• SELECT * FROM one WHERE a==@[5,6]

60. Deep Clone JSON object
• SELECT a FROM one
• SELECT deepClone(a) FROM one

61. ? parameter value
• ? operator
• alasql(‘INSERT INTO one VALUES @{year:?, b:1}’,[2014]);
• alasql(“select * from sales where dt == @{year:?}”, [2014])
• Parameter object property by name
• alasql(‘SELECT $a FROM ?’, [{a:1}]’)
• alasql(‘SELECT :b FROM ?’, [{b:1}]’)
• Array member
• alasql(‘SELECT $2 FROM ?’, [[0,1,2,3,4]]’)

62. Date and Time in Alasql
• Usual realization of date and
time types in different SQL
databases:
• DATE
• DATETIME
• TIMEDIFF
• TIME
• Constants
• “YYYY-MM-DD”
• “YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss”
• “YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss.SSS”
• Definition
• CREATE TABLE orders (
ordered INT,
orderdate DATE
);
• SELECT DAY(orderdate),
MONTH(orderdate),
YEAR(orderdate)
FROM orders
WHERE orderdate
BETWEEN
“2014-01-01” AND
“2014-06-31”

63. JavaScript Date object
• Definition:
• var now = new Date();
• Constants
• No, only new object:
• new Date(2014,0,1)
• How to compare
• new Date(2014,0,1) != new
Date(2014,0,1)
• BUT!
• new Date(2014,0,1).valueOf() !=
new Date(2014,0,1) .valueOf()
• getTime() = valueOf()

64. Alasql approach
• DATE
• “2014-12-01”
• DATETIME
• “2014-12-01”
• “2014-12-01 23:01:23”
• “2014-12-01 12:34:56.123”
• Define class
• alasql.fn.Number = Number;
• alasql.fn.Date = Date;
• Table
• CREATE TABLE orders (
orderid Number,
orderdate Date
);
• Date
• new Date(“2014-12-01”)
• Compare
• new Date(a) == new Date(b)

65. IV. ALASQL:
PERSISTENCE AND
EXTERNAL DATABASES
Local Storage, IndexedDB, DOM-Storage, and SQLite
(SQL.js)

66. Supported external databases
• Browser
• Local Storage (LOCALSTORAGE)
• IndexedDB (INDEXEDDB)
• Node.js
• DOM-storage (analog of Local Storage) – (LOCALSTORAGE)
• Browser and Node.js
• SQLite (SQLITE)

67. CREATE DATABASE
DROP DATABASE / SHOW DATABASES
• Engines
• CREATE INDEXEDDB DATABASE MyBase
• DROP INDEXEDDB DATABASE MyBase
• Created databases are not attached automatically
• Show databases in Local Storage
• SHOW LOCALSTORAGE DATABASE

68. ATTACH DATABASE
DETACH DATABASE
• Attach database
• ATTACH INDEXEDDB DATABASE Stars
• Attach database as alias
• ATTACH INDEXEDDB DATABASE Stars AS Astras
• Attach database from file (with parameters)
• ATTACH SQLITE DATABASE Stars(“stars.sqlite”)
• Detach database
• DETACH DATABASE Astras
• Attached database is not set as default (use USE
DATABASE statement)
• It is not necessary to USE database to use it (use
database prefixe)
• SELECT * FROM Sky.Stars

69. AUTOCOMMIT option
• Local Storage can work in two modes
• SET AUTOCOMMIT ON (default)
• Alasql stores results of each SQL statement to LocalStorage
• SET AUTOCOMMIT OFF
• Use BEGIN, COMMIT, and ROLLBACK to copy data from memory from
and to Local Storage

70. V. ALASQL:
TXT, CSV, TSV, AND EXCEL
DATA PROCESSING
ETL with Alasql

71. FROM and INTO-functions
• Parameters
• FUNC(filename,
parameter_JSON_object)
• Text file
• TXT(filename)
• TXT() – stdin / stdout (for
Node.js)
• TSV() / TAB()
• TAB(filename, {headers:true})
– use first line as a header
• CSV()
• CSV(filename, {headers:true,
separator: ‘;’}) – default
separator – comma
• JSON()
• JSON(filename)
• XLS()/XLSX()
• XLSX(filename,
{headers:true,
sheetid:’Sheet2’,
range:’A1:D100’})

72. CSV() parameters
• headers: false
• Default option
• Return array [{0:1,1:2}]
• headers: true
• First row as headers name
• headers:
@[“Column1”,”Column2”]
• First row as data
• Headers as in array
• separator: ‘;’
• Default ‘,’ (comma)
• quote: ‘’’
• Default ‘“’ (double quote)

73. VI. ALASQL
AND JAVASCRIPT
FRAMEWORKS
Angular.js, d3.js

74. Angular.js and Alasql
// Export data to Excel file from Angular.js array
function MyCtrl($scope) {
$scope.items = [{City:”Moscow”, Population: 1150000},
{City: ‘New York’, Population: 16000000}];
function exportToExcel() {
alasql(‘SELECT * INTO XLSX(“mydata.xlsx”, {headers:true})
FROM ?’,[$scope.items]);
}
}

75. d3.js and Alasql
// Load data from cities.csv file and create a list with city names.
alasql(‘SELECT * FROM CSV(“cities.csv”,{headers:true})’,[],function(cities){
d3.select(“#cities”)
.append(‘ul’)
.data(cities)
.entry()
.append(‘li’)
.text(function(city){return city.name});
});

76. VII. ALASQL:
COMMAND-LINE UTILITIES
Alacon, and Alaserver

77. Alacon – command-line SQL
for data file processing
• Purpose
• Complex text processing
• Batch file format conversion
• Join data files on keys
• Usage:
• node alacon sql param1 param2…
• node –f file param1 param2…

78. Alacon samples
• Convert Excel file
• node alacon “select [0], [1] from xls(‘mytext.txt’)”
• Count number of lines from stdin
• node alacon ‘SELECT VALUE COUNT(*) FROM TXT()’ <a.txt
• Select long lines
• node alacon ‘SELECT * FROM TXT() WHERE LEN([0])>60’ <a.txt
• Grep
• node alacon “SELECT * FROM TXT() WHERE [0] LIKE ’M%’” <a.txt
• Filter lines with ‘one’ word:
• alacon “select line into txt() from txt() where line like ‘%one%’” <a.a
>b.b
• Calculator
• node alacon ‘2*2’

79. Alaserver - very simple SQL server
• Run
• node alaserver –p 8081
• Enter in browser line:
• localhost:8081?SELECT * FROM TXT(‘README.md’)
• or GET
• $.get(“localhost:8081?SELECT * FROM TXT(‘README.md’)”)
• Warning: Alaserver is not multithreaded, not secured, not
protected

80. THE END
You comments are welcome!
agershun@gmail.com