Literals and Variables as Identifiers

In Snowflake SQL statements, in addition to referring to objects by name (see Identifier Requirements), you can also use a string literal, session variable, bind variable, or Snowflake Scripting variable to refer to an object. For example, you can use a session variable that is set to the name of a table in the FROM clause of a SELECT statement.

To use an object name specified in a literal or variable, use IDENTIFIER().

Syntax

IDENTIFIER( { string_literal | session_variable | bind_variable | snowflake_scripting_variable } )
string_literal

String identifying the name of the object:

  • The string must either be enclosed by single quotes ('name') or start with a dollar sign ($name).

  • The string literal can be a fully-qualified object name (e.g. 'db_name.schema_name.object_name' or $db_name.schema_name.object_name).

session_variable

A SQL variable that has been set for the session.

bind_variable

A bind variable, in the form of ? or :variable, which can be used by clients/programmatic interfaces that support binding (JDBC, ODBC, Python, etc.).

snowflake_scripting_variable

A Snowflake Scripting variable that has been set.

Usage Notes

  • You can use literals and variables (session or bind) in some cases when you need to identify an object by name (queries, DML, DDL, etc.).

  • You can use bind variables for object identifiers and bind variables for values in the same query.

  • In a FROM clause, you can use TABLE( { string_literal | session_variable | bind_variable | snowflake_scripting_variable } ) as a synonym for IDENTIFIER( { string_literal | session_variable | bind_variable | snowflake_scripting_variable } ).

  • Although IDENTIFIER(...) uses the syntax of a function, it is not a true function and is not returned by commands such as SHOW FUNCTIONS.

Examples

String literals:

create or replace database identifier('my_db');

+--------------------------------------+
|                status                |
+--------------------------------------+
| Database MY_DB successfully created. |
+--------------------------------------+

create or replace schema identifier('my_schema');

+----------------------------------------+
|                 status                 |
+----------------------------------------+
| Schema MY_SCHEMA successfully created. |
+----------------------------------------+

-- case-insensitive table name specified in a string containing the fully-qualified name
create or replace table identifier('my_db.my_schema.my_table') (c1 number);

+--------------------------------------+
|                status                |
+--------------------------------------+
| Table MY_TABLE successfully created. |
+--------------------------------------+

-- case-sensitive table name specified in a double-quoted string
create or replace table identifier('"my_table"') (c1 number);

+--------------------------------------+
|                status                |
+--------------------------------------+
| Table my_table successfully created. |
+--------------------------------------+

show tables in schema identifier('my_schema');

+---------------------------------+----------+---------------+-------------+-------+---------+------------+------+-------+----------+----------------+
|           created_on            |   name   | database_name | schema_name | kind  | comment | cluster_by | rows | bytes |  owner   | retention_time |
+---------------------------------+----------+---------------+-------------+-------+---------+------------+------+-------+----------+----------------+
| Tue, 05 Dec 2017 12:16:18 -0800 | MY_TABLE | MY_DB         | MY_SCHEMA   | TABLE |         |            | 0    | 0     | SYSADMIN | 1              |
| Tue, 05 Dec 2017 12:16:59 -0800 | my_table | MY_DB         | MY_SCHEMA   | TABLE |         |            | 0    | 0     | SYSADMIN | 1              |
+---------------------------------+----------+---------------+-------------+-------+---------+------------+------+-------+----------+----------------+

Session variables:

This shows how to use a session variable that has a table name or schema name:

set schema_name = 'my_db.my_schema';

set table_name = 'my_table';

use schema identifier($schema_name);

insert into identifier($table_name) values (1), (2), (3);

select * from identifier($table_name) order by 1;

+----+
| C1 |
+----+
| 1  |
| 2  |
| 3  |
+----+

This shows how to use a session variable that has a function name. The function is named speed_of_light.

CREATE FUNCTION speed_of_light() 
RETURNS INTEGER
AS
    $$
    299792458
    $$;

Call the function by name:

SELECT SPEED_OF_LIGHT();
+------------------+
| SPEED_OF_LIGHT() |
|------------------|
|        299792458 |
+------------------+

Call the function by using the IDENTIFIER() syntax:

SET MY_FUNCTION_NAME = 'speed_of_light';

SELECT IDENTIFIER($MY_FUNCTION_NAME)();
+---------------------------------+
| IDENTIFIER($MY_FUNCTION_NAME)() |
|---------------------------------|
|                       299792458 |
+---------------------------------+

Bind variables:

This example shows how to bind a function name in JDBC. The function is named speed_of_light.

String sql_command;

// Create a Statement object to use later.
System.out.println("Create JDBC statement.");
Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
System.out.println("Create function.");
sql_command = "CREATE FUNCTION speed_of_light() RETURNS INTEGER AS $$ 299792458 $$";
statement.execute(sql_command);

System.out.println("Create prepared statement.");
sql_command = "SELECT IDENTIFIER(?)()";
PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql_command);
// Bind
ps.setString(1, "speed_of_light");
ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery();
if (rs.next()) {
  System.out.println("Speed of light (m/s) = " + rs.getInt(1));
}

The following examples show a variety of SQL statements that can use binding, and a variety of database objects that can be bound (including schema names and table names):

use schema identifier(?);

create or replace table identifier(?) (c1 number);

insert into identifier(?) values (?), (?), (?);

select t2.c1 from identifier(?) as t1, identifier(?) as t2 where t1.c1 = t2.c1 and t1.c1 > (?);

drop table identifier(?);

Snowflake Scripting variables:

This example shows how to use a Snowflake Scripting variable for a table name in a SELECT statement:

BEGIN
  LET res RESULTSET := (SELECT COUNT(*) AS COUNT FROM IDENTIFIER(:table_name));
  ...
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