DuckDB ClickHouse SQL extension

The DuckDB chsql community extension implements popular ClickHouse SQL syntax macros and functions,
making it easier for users to transition between the two database systems ⭐ designed for Quackpipe

Installation

chsql is distributed as a DuckDB Community Extension and can be installed using SQL:

INSTALL chsql FROM community;
LOAD chsql;

If you previously installed the chsql extension, upgrade using the FORCE command

FORCE INSTALL chsql FROM community;
LOAD chsql;

Usage Examples

Once installed, the macro functions provided by the extension can be used just like built-in functions.

Here's a random example out of 100s using the IPv4StringToNum and IPv4NumToString functions:

D INSTALL chsql FROM community;
D LOAD chsql;
D SELECT IPv4StringToNum('127.0.0.1'), IPv4NumToString(2130706433);
┌──────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ipv4stringtonum('127.0.0.1') │ ipv4numtostring(2130706433) │
│            int32             │           varchar           │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│                   2130706433 │ 127.0.0.1                   │
└──────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘

Remote Queries

The built-in ch_scan function can be used to query remote ClickHouse servers using the HTTP/s API

D SELECT * FROM ch_scan("SELECT number * 2 FROM numbers(10)", "https://play.clickhouse.com");

Supported Functions

👉 The list of supported aliases is available on the dedicated extension page
👉 The combined list of supported functions can be obtained using an SQL Join

Motivation

Why is the DuckDB + chsql combo fun and useful

✔ DuckDB SQL is awesome and full of great functions.
✔ ClickHouse SQL is awesome and full of great functions.

✔ The DuckDB library is ~51M and modular. Can LOAD extensions.
❌ The ClickHouse monolith is ~551M and growing. No extensions.

✔ DuckDB is open source and protected by a no-profit foundation.
❌ ClickHouse is open core and controlled by for-profit corporation.

✔ DuckDB embedded is fast, mature and elegantly integrated in many languages.
❌ chdb is still experimental, unstable and currently only supports Python.

Functions

function	fun_type	description	comment	example
IPv4NumToString	macro	Cast IPv4 address from numeric to string format		SELECT IPv4NumToString(2130706433);
IPv4StringToNum	macro	Cast IPv4 address from string to numeric format		SELECT IPv4StringToNum('127.0.0.1');
arrayExists	macro	Check if any element of the array satisfies the condition		SELECT arrayExists(x -> x = 1, [1, 2, 3]);
arrayJoin	macro	Unroll an array into multiple rows		SELECT arrayJoin([1, 2, 3]);
arrayMap	macro	Applies a function to each element of an array		SELECT arrayMap(x -> x + 1, [1, 2, 3]);
bitCount	macro	Counts the number of set bits in an integer		SELECT bitCount(15);
ch_scan	table_macro	Query a remote ClickHouse server using HTTP/s API	Returns the query results	SELECT * FROM ch_scan('SELECT version()','https://play.clickhouse.com', format := 'parquet');
domain	macro	Extracts the domain from a URL		SELECT domain('https://clickhouse.com/docs');
empty	macro	Check if a string is empty		SELECT empty('');
extractAllGroups	macro	Extracts all matching groups from a string using a regular expression		SELECT extractAllGroups('(\d+)', 'abc123');
formatDateTime	macro	Formats a DateTime value into a string		SELECT formatDateTime(now(), '%Y-%m-%d');
generateUUIDv4	macro	Generate a UUID v4 value		SELECT generateUUIDv4();
ifNull	macro	Returns the first argument if not NULL, otherwise the second		SELECT ifNull(NULL, 'default');
intDiv	macro	Performs integer division		SELECT intDiv(10, 3);
intDivOZero	macro	Performs integer division but returns zero instead of throwing an error for division by zero		SELECT intDivOZero(10, 0);
intDivOrNull	macro	Performs integer division but returns NULL instead of throwing an error for division by zero		SELECT intDivOrNull(10, 0);
leftPad	macro	Pads a string on the left to a specified length		SELECT leftPad('abc', 5, '*');
lengthUTF8	macro	Returns the length of a string in UTF-8 characters		SELECT lengthUTF8('Привет');
match	macro	Performs a regular expression match on a string		SELECT match('abc123', '\d+');
minus	macro	Performs subtraction of two numbers		SELECT minus(5, 3);
modulo	macro	Calculates the remainder of division (modulus)		SELECT modulo(10, 3);
moduloOrZero	macro	Calculates modulus but returns zero instead of error on division by zero		SELECT moduloOrZero(10, 0);
notEmpty	macro	Check if a string is not empty		SELECT notEmpty('abc');
numbers	table_macro	Generates a sequence of numbers starting from 0	Returns a table with a single column (UInt64)	SELECT * FROM numbers(10);
parseURL	macro	Extracts parts of a URL		SELECT parseURL('https://clickhouse.com', 'host');
path	macro	Extracts the path from a URL		SELECT path('https://clickhouse.com/docs');
plus	macro	Performs addition of two numbers		SELECT plus(5, 3);
protocol	macro	Extracts the protocol from a URL		SELECT protocol('https://clickhouse.com');
read_parquet_mergetree	function	Merge parquet files using a primary sorting key for fast range queries	experimental	COPY (SELECT * FROM read_parquet_mergetree(['/folder/*.parquet'], 'sortkey') TO 'sorted.parquet';
rightPad	macro	Pads a string on the right to a specified length		SELECT rightPad('abc', 5, '*');
splitByChar	macro	Splits a string by a given character		SELECT splitByChar(',', 'a,b,c');
toDayOfMonth	macro	Extracts the day of the month from a date		SELECT toDayOfMonth('2023-09-10');
toFixedString	macro	Converts a value to a fixed-length string		SELECT toFixedString('abc', 5);
toFloat	macro	Converts a value to a float		SELECT toFloat('123.45');
toFloatOrNull	macro	Converts a value to float or returns NULL if the conversion fails		SELECT toFloatOrNull('abc');
toFloatOrZero	macro	Converts a value to float or returns zero if the conversion fails		SELECT toFloatOrZero('abc');
toHour	macro	Extracts the hour from a DateTime value		SELECT toHour(now());
toInt128	macro	Converts a value to a 128-bit integer		SELECT toInt128('123456789012345678901234567890');
toInt128OrNull	macro	Converts to a 128-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toInt128OrNull('abc');
toInt128OrZero	macro	Converts to a 128-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toInt128OrZero('abc');
toInt16	macro	Converts a value to a 16-bit integer		SELECT toInt16('123');
toInt16OrNull	macro	Converts to a 16-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toInt16OrNull('abc');
toInt16OrZero	macro	Converts to a 16-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toInt16OrZero('abc');
toInt256	macro	Converts a value to a 256-bit integer		SELECT toInt256('12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890');
toInt256OrNull	macro	Converts to a 256-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toInt256OrNull('abc');
toInt256OrZero	macro	Converts to a 256-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toInt256OrZero('abc');
toInt32	macro	Converts a value to a 32-bit integer		SELECT toInt32('123');
toInt32OrNull	macro	Converts to a 32-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toInt32OrNull('abc');
toInt32OrZero	macro	Converts to a 32-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toInt32OrZero('abc');
toInt64	macro	Converts a value to a 64-bit integer		SELECT toInt64('123');
toInt64OrNull	macro	Converts to a 64-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toInt64OrNull('abc');
toInt64OrZero	macro	Converts to a 64-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toInt64OrZero('abc');
toInt8	macro	Converts a value to an 8-bit integer		SELECT toInt8('123');
toInt8OrNull	macro	Converts to an 8-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toInt8OrNull('abc');
toInt8OrZero	macro	Converts to an 8-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toInt8OrZero('abc');
toMinute	macro	Extracts the minute from a DateTime value		SELECT toMinute(now());
toMonth	macro	Extracts the month from a Date value		SELECT toMonth('2023-09-10');
toSecond	macro	Extracts the second from a DateTime value		SELECT toSecond(now());
toString	macro	Converts a value to a string		SELECT toString(123);
toUInt16	macro	Converts a value to an unsigned 16-bit integer		SELECT toUInt16('123');
toUInt16OrNull	macro	Converts to an unsigned 16-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toUInt16OrNull('abc');
toUInt16OrZero	macro	Converts to an unsigned 16-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toUInt16OrZero('abc');
toUInt32	macro	Converts a value to an unsigned 32-bit integer		SELECT toUInt32('123');
toUInt32OrNull	macro	Converts to an unsigned 32-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toUInt32OrNull('abc');
toUInt32OrZero	macro	Converts to an unsigned 32-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toUInt32OrZero('abc');
toUInt64	macro	Converts a value to an unsigned 64-bit integer		SELECT toUInt64('123');
toUInt64OrNull	macro	Converts to an unsigned 64-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toUInt64OrNull('abc');
toUInt64OrZero	macro	Converts to an unsigned 64-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toUInt64OrZero('abc');
toUInt8	macro	Converts a value to an unsigned 8-bit integer		SELECT toUInt8('123');
toUInt8OrNull	macro	Converts to an unsigned 8-bit integer or returns NULL on failure		SELECT toUInt8OrNull('abc');
toUInt8OrZero	macro	Converts to an unsigned 8-bit integer or returns zero on failure		SELECT toUInt8OrZero('abc');
toYYYYMM	macro	Formats a Date to 'YYYYMM' string format		SELECT toYYYYMM('2023-09-10');
toYYYYMMDD	macro	Formats a Date to 'YYYYMMDD' string format		SELECT toYYYYMMDD('2023-09-10');
toYYYYMMDDhhmmss	macro	Formats a DateTime to 'YYYYMMDDhhmmss' string format		SELECT toYYYYMMDDhhmmss(now());
toYear	macro	Extracts the year from a Date or DateTime value		SELECT toYear('2023-09-10');
topLevelDomain	macro	Extracts the top-level domain (TLD) from a URL		SELECT topLevelDomain('https://example.com');
tupleConcat	macro	Concatenates two tuples into one tuple		SELECT tupleConcat((1, 'a'), (2, 'b'));
tupleDivide	macro	Performs element-wise division between two tuples		SELECT tupleDivide((10, 20), (2, 5));
tupleDivideByNumber	macro	Divides each element of a tuple by a number		SELECT tupleDivideByNumber((10, 20), 2);
tupleIntDiv	macro	Performs element-wise integer division between two tuples		SELECT tupleIntDiv((10, 20), (3, 4));
tupleIntDivByNumber	macro	Performs integer division of each element of a tuple by a number		SELECT tupleIntDivByNumber((10, 20), 3);
tupleMinus	macro	Performs element-wise subtraction between two tuples		SELECT tupleMinus((10, 20), (5, 3));
tupleModulo	macro	Performs element-wise modulus between two tuples		SELECT tupleModulo((10, 20), (3, 6));
tupleModuloByNumber	macro	Calculates the modulus of each element of a tuple by a number		SELECT tupleModuloByNumber((10, 20), 3);
tupleMultiply	macro	Performs element-wise multiplication between two tuples		SELECT tupleMultiply((10, 20), (2, 5));
tupleMultiplyByNumber	macro	Multiplies each element of a tuple by a number		SELECT tupleMultiplyByNumber((10, 20), 3);
tuplePlus	macro	Performs element-wise addition between two tuples		SELECT tuplePlus((1, 2), (3, 4));
url	table_macro	Performs queries against remote URLs using the specified format	Supports JSON, CSV, PARQUET, TEXT, BLOB	SELECT * FROM url('https://urleng.com/test','JSON');
JSONExtract	macro	Extracts JSON data based on key from a JSON object		SELECT JSONExtract(json_column, 'user.name');
JSONExtractString	macro	Extracts JSON data as a VARCHAR from a JSON object		SELECT JSONExtractString(json_column, 'user.email');
JSONExtractUInt	macro	Extracts JSON data as an unsigned integer from a JSON object		SELECT JSONExtractUInt(json_column, 'user.age');
JSONExtractInt	macro	Extracts JSON data as a 32-bit integer from a JSON object		SELECT JSONExtractInt(json_column, 'user.balance');
JSONExtractFloat	macro	Extracts JSON data as a double from a JSON object		SELECT JSONExtractFloat(json_column, 'user.score');
JSONExtractRaw	macro	Extracts raw JSON data based on key from a JSON object		SELECT JSONExtractRaw(json_column, 'user.address');
JSONHas	macro	Checks if a JSON key exists and is not null		SELECT JSONHas(json_column, 'user.active');
JSONLength	macro	Returns the length of a JSON array		SELECT JSONLength(json_column, 'items');
JSONType	macro	Determines the type of JSON element at the given path		SELECT JSONType(json_column, 'user.data');
JSONExtractKeys	macro	Extracts keys from a JSON object		SELECT JSONExtractKeys(json_column);
JSONExtractValues	macro	Extracts all values as text from a JSON object		SELECT JSONExtractValues(json_column);
equals	macro	Checks if two values are equal		SELECT equals(column_a, column_b);
notEquals	macro	Checks if two values are not equal		SELECT notEquals(column_a, column_b);
less	macro	Checks if one value is less than another		SELECT less(column_a, column_b);
greater	macro	Checks if one value is greater than another		SELECT greater(column_a, column_b);
lessOrEquals	macro	Checks if one value is less than or equal to another		SELECT lessOrEquals(column_a, column_b);
greaterOrEquals	macro	Checks if one value is greater than or equal to another		SELECT greaterOrEquals(column_a, column_b);
dictGet	macro	Retrieves an attribute from a VARIABLE string or MAP		SELECT dictGet('dictionary_name', 'attribute');

Disclaimer

DuckDB ® is a trademark of DuckDB Foundation. ClickHouse® is a trademark of ClickHouse Inc. All trademarks, service marks, and logos mentioned or depicted are the property of their respective owners. The use of any third-party trademarks, brand names, product names, and company names is purely informative or intended as parody and does not imply endorsement, affiliation, or association with the respective owners.