Subqueries

SQL subqueries enable reuse of the results from a selection query within another query. CockroachDB supports two kinds of subqueries:

Relational subqueries, which appear as operands in selection queries and table expressions.
Scalar subqueries, which appear as operands in a scalar expression.

Data writes in subqueries

When a subquery contains a data-modifying statement (INSERT,DELETE, etc.), the data modification is always executed to completion even if the surrounding query only uses a subset of the result rows. This is true for subqueries defined using the (...) notation and those defined using WITH. For example:

> WITH t AS (INSERT INTO t(x) VALUES (1), (2), (3) RETURNING x)
SELECT * FROM t LIMIT 1;

This query inserts 3 rows into t, even though the surrounding query only observes 1 row using LIMIT.

Correlated subqueries

A subquery is said to be correlated when it uses table or column names defined in the surrounding query. For example, to find every customer with at least one order, run:

> SELECT
      c.name
  FROM
      customers AS c
  WHERE
      EXISTS (SELECT * FROM orders AS o WHERE o.customer_id = c.id);

The subquery is correlated because it uses c defined in the surrounding query. The cost-based optimizer supports most correlated subqueries, with the exception of correlated subqueries that generate side effects inside a CASE statement.

`LATERAL` subqueries

A LATERAL subquery is a correlated subquery that references another query or subquery in its SELECT statement, usually in the context of a LEFT join or an INNER join. Unlike other correlated subqueries, LATERAL subqueries iterate through each row in the referenced query for each row in the inner subquery, like a for loop. To create a LATERAL subquery, use the LATERAL keyword directly before the inner subquery’s SELECT statement. For example, the following statement performs an INNER join of the users table and a subquery of the rides table that filters on values in the users table:

> SELECT name, address FROM users, LATERAL (SELECT * FROM rides WHERE rides.start_address = users.address AND city = 'new york');

        name       |           address
+------------------+-----------------------------+
  Robert Murphy    | 99176 Anderson Mills
  James Hamilton   | 73488 Sydney Ports Suite 57
  Judy White       | 18580 Rosario Ville Apt. 61
  Devin Jordan     | 81127 Angela Ferry Apt. 8
  Catherine Nelson | 1149 Lee Alley
  Nicole Mcmahon   | 11540 Patton Extensions
(6 rows)

LATERAL subquery joins are especially useful when the join table includes a computed column. For example, the following query joins a subquery of the rides table with a computed column (adjusted_revenue), and a subquery of the vehicles table that references columns in the rides subquery:

> SELECT
    ride_id, vehicle_id, type, adjusted_revenue
    FROM
    (
      SELECT
        id AS ride_id, vehicle_id, revenue - 0.25*revenue AS adjusted_revenue
      FROM
        rides
    ) AS r
    JOIN
      LATERAL (
        SELECT
           type
        FROM
           vehicles
        WHERE
           city = 'new york' AND vehicles.id = r.vehicle_id AND r.adjusted_revenue > 65 )
    ON true;

                ride_id                |              vehicle_id              |    type    | adjusted_revenue
+--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+------------+------------------+
  049ba5e3-53f7-4ec0-8000-000000000009 | 11111111-1111-4100-8000-000000000001 | scooter    |          71.2500
  0624dd2f-1a9f-4e80-8000-00000000000c | 00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000000 | skateboard |          70.5000
  08b43958-1062-4e00-8000-000000000011 | 11111111-1111-4100-8000-000000000001 | scooter    |          70.5000
  0bc6a7ef-9db2-4d00-8000-000000000017 | 00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000000 | skateboard |          68.2500
  0d4fdf3b-645a-4c80-8000-00000000001a | 00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000000 | skateboard |          67.5000
  1ba5e353-f7ce-4900-8000-000000000036 | 11111111-1111-4100-8000-000000000001 | scooter    |          70.5000
(6 rows)

In a LATERAL subquery join, the rows returned by the inner subquery are added to the result of the join with the outer query. Without the LATERAL keyword, each subquery is evaluated independently and cannot refer to objects defined in separate queries.

Performance best practices

The results of scalar subqueries are loaded entirely into memory when the execution of the surrounding query starts. To prevent execution errors due to memory exhaustion, ensure that subqueries return as few results as possible.

Known limitations

Statements containing multiple modification subqueries mutating the same row could cause corruption. These statements are disallowed by default, but you can enable multiple modification subqueries with one the following:
- Set the sql.multiple_modifications_of_table.enabled cluster setting to true.
- Use the enable_multiple_modifications_of_table session variable.
If multiple mutations inside the same statement affect different tables with FOREIGN KEY relations and ON CASCADE clauses between them, the results will be different from what is expected in PostgreSQL.

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Data writes in subqueries

Correlated subqueries

`LATERAL` subqueries

Performance best practices

Known limitations

See also

​Data writes in subqueries

​Correlated subqueries

​LATERAL subqueries

​Performance best practices

​Known limitations

​See also

Data writes in subqueries

Correlated subqueries

`LATERAL` subqueries

Performance best practices

Known limitations

See also