This topic describes Greenplum Database reserved identifiers and object names, and SQL key words recognized by the Greenplum Database and PostgreSQL command parsers.

Reserved Identifiers

In the Greenplum Database system, names beginning with gp_ and pg_ are reserved and should not be used as names for user-created objects, such as tables, views, and functions.

The resource group names admin_group, default_group, and none are reserved. The resource queue name pg_default is reserved.

The tablespace names pg_default and pg_global are reserved.

The role names gpadmin and gpmon are reserved. gpadmin is the default Greenplum Database superuser role. The gpmon role owns the gpperfmon database and is also used by Greenplum Command Center.

In data files, the characters that delimit fields (columns) and rows have a special meaning. If they appear within the data you must escape them so that Greenplum Database treats them as data and not as delimiters. The backslash character (\) is the default escape character. See Escaping for details.

See SQL Syntax in the PostgreSQL documentation for more information about SQL identifiers, constants, operators, and expressions.

SQL Key Words

Table 1 lists all tokens that are key words in Greenplum Database 6 and PostgreSQL 9.4.

ANSI SQL distinguishes between reserved and unreserved key words. According to the standard, reserved key words are the only real key words; they are never allowed as identifiers. Unreserved key words only have a special meaning in particular contexts and can be used as identifiers in other contexts. Most unreserved key words are actually the names of built-in tables and functions specified by SQL. The concept of unreserved key words essentially only exists to declare that some predefined meaning is attached to a word in some contexts.

In the Greenplum Database and PostgreSQL parsers there are several different classes of tokens ranging from those that can never be used as an identifier to those that have absolutely no special status in the parser as compared to an ordinary identifier. (The latter is usually the case for functions specified by SQL.) Even reserved key words are not completely reserved, but can be used as column labels (for example, SELECT 55 AS CHECK, even though CHECK is a reserved key word).

Table 1 classifies as "unreserved" those key words that are explicitly known to the parser but are allowed as column or table names. Some key words that are otherwise unreserved cannot be used as function or data type names and are marked accordingly. (Most of these words represent built-in functions or data types with special syntax. The function or type is still available but it cannot be redefined by the user.) Key words labeled "reserved" are not allowed as column or table names. Some reserved key words are allowable as names for functions or data types; this is also shown in the table. If not so marked, a reserved key word is only allowed as an "AS" column label name.

If you get spurious parser errors for commands that contain any of the listed key words as an identifier you should try to quote the identifier to see if the problem goes away.

Before studying the table, note the fact that a key word is not reserved does not mean that the feature related to the word is not implemented. Conversely, the presence of a key word does not indicate the existence of a feature.

Key Word Greenplum Database PostgreSQL 9.4
ABORT unreserved unreserved
ABSOLUTE unreserved unreserved
ACCESS unreserved unreserved
ACTION unreserved unreserved
ACTIVE unreserved
ADD unreserved unreserved
ADMIN unreserved unreserved
AFTER unreserved unreserved
AGGREGATE unreserved unreserved
ALL reserved reserved
ALSO unreserved unreserved
ALTER unreserved unreserved
ALWAYS unreserved unreserved
ANALYSE reserved reserved
ANALYZE reserved reserved
AND reserved reserved
ANY reserved reserved
ARRAY reserved reserved
AS reserved reserved
ASC reserved reserved
ASSERTION unreserved unreserved
ASSIGNMENT unreserved unreserved
ASYMMETRIC reserved reserved
AT unreserved unreserved
ATTRIBUTE unreserved unreserved
AUTHORIZATION reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
BACKWARD unreserved unreserved
BEFORE unreserved unreserved
BEGIN unreserved unreserved
BETWEEN unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
BIGINT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
BINARY reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
BIT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
BOOLEAN unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
BOTH reserved reserved
BY unreserved unreserved
CACHE unreserved unreserved
CALLED unreserved unreserved
CASCADE unreserved unreserved
CASCADED unreserved unreserved
CASE reserved reserved
CAST reserved reserved
CATALOG unreserved unreserved
CHAIN unreserved unreserved
CHAR unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
CHARACTER unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
CHARACTERISTICS unreserved unreserved
CHECK reserved reserved
CHECKPOINT unreserved unreserved
CLASS unreserved unreserved
CLOSE unreserved unreserved
CLUSTER unreserved unreserved
COALESCE unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
COLLATE reserved reserved
COLLATION reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
COLUMN reserved reserved
COMMENT unreserved unreserved
COMMENTS unreserved unreserved
COMMIT unreserved unreserved
COMMITTED unreserved unreserved
CONCURRENCY unreserved
CONCURRENTLY reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
CONFIGURATION unreserved unreserved
CONFLICT unreserved unreserved
CONNECTION unreserved unreserved
CONSTRAINT reserved reserved
CONSTRAINTS unreserved unreserved
CONTAINS unreserved
CONTENT unreserved unreserved
CONTINUE unreserved unreserved
CONVERSION unreserved unreserved
COPY unreserved unreserved
COST unreserved unreserved
CPU_RATE_LIMIT unreserved
CPUSET unreserved
CREATE reserved reserved
CREATEEXTTABLE unreserved
CROSS reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
CSV unreserved unreserved
CUBE unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
CURRENT unreserved unreserved
CURRENT_CATALOG reserved reserved
CURRENT_DATE reserved reserved
CURRENT_ROLE reserved reserved
CURRENT_SCHEMA reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
CURRENT_TIME reserved reserved
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP reserved reserved
CURRENT_USER reserved reserved
CURSOR unreserved unreserved
CYCLE unreserved unreserved
DATA unreserved unreserved
DATABASE unreserved unreserved
DAY unreserved unreserved
DEALLOCATE unreserved unreserved
DEC unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
DECIMAL unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
DECLARE unreserved unreserved
DECODE reserved
DEFAULT reserved reserved
DEFAULTS unreserved unreserved
DEFERRABLE reserved reserved
DEFERRED unreserved unreserved
DEFINER unreserved unreserved
DELETE unreserved unreserved
DELIMITER unreserved unreserved
DELIMITERS unreserved unreserved
DENY unreserved
DEPENDS unreserved unreserved
DESC reserved reserved
DICTIONARY unreserved unreserved
DISABLE unreserved unreserved
DISCARD unreserved unreserved
DISTINCT reserved reserved
DISTRIBUTED reserved
DO reserved reserved
DOCUMENT unreserved unreserved
DOMAIN unreserved unreserved
DOUBLE unreserved unreserved
DROP unreserved unreserved
DXL unreserved
EACH unreserved unreserved
ELSE reserved reserved
ENABLE unreserved unreserved
ENCODING unreserved unreserved
ENCRYPTED unreserved unreserved
END reserved reserved
ENDPOINT unreserved unreserved
ENUM unreserved unreserved
ERRORS unreserved
ESCAPE unreserved unreserved
EVENT unreserved unreserved
EVERY unreserved
EXCEPT reserved reserved
EXCHANGE unreserved
EXCLUDE reserved unreserved
EXCLUDING unreserved unreserved
EXCLUSIVE unreserved unreserved
EXECUTE unreserved unreserved
EXISTS unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
EXPAND unreserved
EXPLAIN unreserved unreserved
EXTENSION unreserved unreserved
EXTERNAL unreserved unreserved
EXTRACT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
FALSE reserved reserved
FAMILY unreserved unreserved
FETCH reserved reserved
FIELDS unreserved
FILESPACE unreserved unreserved
FILL unreserved
FILTER unreserved unreserved
FIRST unreserved unreserved
FLOAT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
FOLLOWING reserved unreserved
FOR reserved reserved
FORCE unreserved unreserved
FOREIGN reserved reserved
FORMAT unreserved
FORWARD unreserved unreserved
FREEZE reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
FROM reserved reserved
FULL reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
FULLSCAN unreserved
FUNCTION unreserved unreserved
FUNCTIONS unreserved unreserved
GLOBAL unreserved unreserved
GRANT reserved reserved
GRANTED unreserved unreserved
GREATEST unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
GROUP reserved reserved
GROUP_ID unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
GROUPING unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
HANDLER unreserved unreserved
HASH unreserved
HAVING reserved reserved
HEADER unreserved unreserved
HOLD unreserved unreserved
HOST unreserved
HOUR unreserved unreserved
IDENTITY unreserved unreserved
IF unreserved unreserved
IGNORE unreserved
ILIKE reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
IMMEDIATE unreserved unreserved
IMMUTABLE unreserved unreserved
IMPLICIT unreserved unreserved
IMPORT unreserved unreserved
IN reserved reserved
INCLUDING unreserved unreserved
INCLUSIVE unreserved
INCREMENT unreserved unreserved
INDEX unreserved unreserved
INDEXES unreserved unreserved
INHERIT unreserved unreserved
INHERITS unreserved unreserved
INITIALLY reserved reserved
INITPLAN unreserved unreserved
INLINE unreserved unreserved
INNER reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
INOUT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
INPUT unreserved unreserved
INSENSITIVE unreserved unreserved
INSERT unreserved unreserved
INSTEAD unreserved unreserved
INT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
INTEGER unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
INTERSECT reserved reserved
INTERVAL unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
INTO reserved reserved
INVOKER unreserved unreserved
IS reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
ISNULL reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
ISOLATION unreserved unreserved
JOIN reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
KEY unreserved unreserved
LABEL unreserved unreserved
LANGUAGE unreserved unreserved
LARGE unreserved unreserved
LAST unreserved unreserved
LATERAL reserved reserved
LC_COLLATE unreserved unreserved
LC_CTYPE unreserved unreserved
LEADING reserved reserved
LEAKPROOF unreserved unreserved
LEAST unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
LEFT reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
LEVEL unreserved unreserved
LIKE reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
LIMIT reserved reserved
LIST unreserved
LISTEN unreserved unreserved
LOAD unreserved unreserved
LOCAL unreserved unreserved
LOCALTIME reserved reserved
LOCALTIMESTAMP reserved reserved
LOCATION unreserved unreserved
LOCK unreserved unreserved
LOCKED unreserved unreserved
LOG reserved (can be function or type name)
LOGGED unreserved unreserved
MAPPING unreserved unreserved
MASTER unreserved
MATCH unreserved unreserved
MATERIALIZED unreserved unreserved
MAXVALUE unreserved unreserved
MEDIAN unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
MEMORY_LIMIT unreserved
MEMORY_SHARED_QUOTA unreserved
MEMORY_SPILL_RATIO unreserved
METHOD unreserved unreserved
MINUTE unreserved unreserved
MINVALUE unreserved unreserved
MISSING unreserved
MODE unreserved unreserved
MODIFIES unreserved
MONTH unreserved unreserved
MOVE unreserved unreserved
NAME unreserved unreserved
NAMES unreserved unreserved
NATIONAL unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
NATURAL reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
NCHAR unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
NEWLINE unreserved
NEXT unreserved unreserved
NO unreserved unreserved
NOCREATEEXTTABLE unreserved
NONE unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
NOOVERCOMMIT unreserved
NOT reserved reserved
NOTHING unreserved unreserved
NOTIFY unreserved unreserved
NOTNULL reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
NOWAIT unreserved unreserved
NULL reserved reserved
NULLIF unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
NULLS unreserved unreserved
NUMERIC unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
OBJECT unreserved unreserved
OF unreserved unreserved
OFF unreserved unreserved
OFFSET reserved reserved
OIDS unreserved unreserved
ON reserved reserved
ONLY reserved reserved
OPERATOR unreserved unreserved
OPTION unreserved unreserved
OPTIONS unreserved unreserved
OR reserved reserved
ORDER reserved reserved
ORDERED unreserved
ORDINALITY unreserved unreserved
OTHERS unreserved
OUT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
OUTER reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
OVER unreserved unreserved
OVERCOMMIT unreserved
OVERLAPS reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
OVERLAY unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
OWNED unreserved unreserved
OWNER unreserved unreserved
PARALLEL unreserved unreserved
PARSER unreserved unreserved
PARTIAL unreserved unreserved
PARTITION reserved unreserved
PARTITIONS unreserved
PASSING unreserved unreserved
PASSWORD unreserved unreserved
PERCENT unreserved
PLACING reserved reserved
PLANS unreserved unreserved
POLICY unreserved unreserved
POSITION unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
PRECEDING reserved unreserved
PRECISION unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
PREPARE unreserved unreserved
PREPARED unreserved unreserved
PRESERVE unreserved unreserved
PRIMARY reserved reserved
PRIOR unreserved unreserved
PRIVILEGES unreserved unreserved
PROCEDURAL unreserved unreserved
PROCEDURE unreserved unreserved
PROGRAM unreserved unreserved
PROTOCOL unreserved
QUEUE unreserved
QUOTE unreserved unreserved
RANDOMLY unreserved
RANGE unreserved unreserved
READ unreserved unreserved
READABLE unreserved
READS unreserved
REAL unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
REASSIGN unreserved unreserved
RECHECK unreserved unreserved
RECURSIVE unreserved unreserved
REF unreserved unreserved
REFERENCES reserved reserved
REFRESH unreserved unreserved
REINDEX unreserved unreserved
REJECT unreserved
RELATIVE unreserved unreserved
RELEASE unreserved unreserved
RENAME unreserved unreserved
REPEATABLE unreserved unreserved
REPLACE unreserved unreserved
REPLICA unreserved unreserved
REPLICATED unreserved
RESET unreserved unreserved
RESOURCE unreserved
RESTART unreserved unreserved
RESTRICT unreserved unreserved
RETRIEVE unreserved unreserved
RETURNING reserved reserved
RETURNS unreserved unreserved
REVOKE unreserved unreserved
RIGHT reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
ROLE unreserved unreserved
ROLLBACK unreserved unreserved
ROLLUP unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
ROOTPARTITION unreserved
ROW unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
ROWS unreserved unreserved
RULE unreserved unreserved
SAVEPOINT unreserved unreserved
SCATTER reserved
SCHEMA unreserved unreserved
SCROLL unreserved unreserved
SEARCH unreserved unreserved
SECOND unreserved unreserved
SECURITY unreserved unreserved
SEGMENT unreserved
SEGMENTS unreserved
SELECT reserved reserved
SEQUENCE unreserved unreserved
SEQUENCES unreserved unreserved
SERIALIZABLE unreserved unreserved
SERVER unreserved unreserved
SESSION unreserved unreserved
SESSION_USER reserved reserved
SET unreserved unreserved
SETOF unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
SETS unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
SHARE unreserved unreserved
SHOW unreserved unreserved
SIMILAR reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
SIMPLE unreserved unreserved
SKIP unreserved unreserved
SMALLINT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
SNAPSHOT unreserved unreserved
SOME reserved reserved
SPLIT unreserved
SQL unreserved
STABLE unreserved unreserved
STANDALONE unreserved unreserved
START unreserved unreserved
STATEMENT unreserved unreserved
STATISTICS unreserved unreserved
STDIN unreserved unreserved
STDOUT unreserved unreserved
STORAGE unreserved unreserved
STRICT unreserved unreserved
STRIP unreserved unreserved
SUBPARTITION unreserved
SUBSTRING unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
SYMMETRIC reserved reserved
SYSID unreserved unreserved
SYSTEM unreserved unreserved
TABLE reserved reserved
TABLES unreserved unreserved
TABLESPACE unreserved unreserved
TEMP unreserved unreserved
TEMPLATE unreserved unreserved
TEMPORARY unreserved unreserved
TEXT unreserved unreserved
THEN reserved reserved
THRESHOLD unreserved
TIES unreserved
TIME unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
TIMESTAMP unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
TO reserved reserved
TRAILING reserved reserved
TRANSACTION unreserved unreserved
TRANSFORM unreserved unreserved
TREAT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
TRIGGER unreserved unreserved
TRIM unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
TRUE reserved reserved
TRUNCATE unreserved unreserved
TRUSTED unreserved unreserved
TYPE unreserved unreserved
TYPES unreserved unreserved
UNBOUNDED reserved unreserved
UNCOMMITTED unreserved unreserved
UNENCRYPTED unreserved unreserved
UNION reserved reserved
UNIQUE reserved reserved
UNKNOWN unreserved unreserved
UNLISTEN unreserved unreserved
UNLOGGED unreserved unreserved
UNTIL unreserved unreserved
UPDATE unreserved unreserved
USER reserved reserved
USING reserved reserved
VACUUM unreserved unreserved
VALID unreserved unreserved
VALIDATE unreserved unreserved
VALIDATION unreserved
VALIDATOR unreserved unreserved
VALUE unreserved unreserved
VALUES unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
VARCHAR unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
VARIADIC reserved reserved
VARYING unreserved unreserved
VERBOSE reserved (can be function or type name) reserved (can be function or type name)
VERSION unreserved unreserved
VIEW unreserved unreserved
VIEWS unreserved unreserved
VOLATILE unreserved unreserved
WEB unreserved
WHEN reserved reserved
WHERE reserved reserved
WHITESPACE unreserved unreserved
WINDOW reserved reserved
WITH reserved reserved
WITHIN unreserved unreserved
WITHOUT unreserved unreserved
WORK unreserved unreserved
WRAPPER unreserved unreserved
WRITABLE unreserved
WRITE unreserved unreserved
XML unreserved unreserved
XMLATTRIBUTES unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
XMLCONCAT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
XMLELEMENT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
XMLEXISTS unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
XMLFOREST unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
XMLPARSE unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
XMLPI unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
XMLROOT unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
XMLSERIALIZE unreserved (cannot be function or type name) unreserved (cannot be function or type name)
YEAR unreserved unreserved
YES unreserved unreserved
ZONE unreserved unreserved
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