Reserved & limited keywords¶

Snowflake SQL reserves all ANSI keywords (with the exception of type keywords such as CHAR, DATE, DECIMAL, etc.), as well as some additional keywords (ASC, DESC, MINUS, etc.) that are reserved by other popular databases. Additionally, Snowflake reserves keywords REGEXP and RLIKE (which function like the ANSI reserved keyword LIKE) and SOME (which is a synonym for the ANSI reserved keyword ANY).

To avoid parsing ambiguities, Snowflake SQL also prohibits the use of keywords such as LEFT, OUTER, JOIN, etc. as table names or aliases in the FROM list, and the use of keywords such as TRUE, FALSE, CASE, etc. as column references in scalar expressions.

The following table provides the list of reserved keywords in Snowflake and keywords that are not strictly reserved, but have usage limitations:

Keyword	Comment
A
ACCOUNT	Cannot be used as an identifier in a SHOW command (e.g. ‘SHOW … IN <identifier>’).
ALL	Reserved by ANSI.
ALTER	Reserved by ANSI.
AND	Reserved by ANSI.
ANY	Reserved by ANSI.
AS	Reserved by ANSI.
B
BETWEEN	Reserved by ANSI.
BY	Reserved by ANSI.
C
CASE	Cannot be used as column reference in a scalar expression.
CAST	Cannot be used as column reference in a scalar expression.
CHECK	Reserved by ANSI.
COLUMN	Reserved by ANSI.
CONNECT	Reserved by ANSI.
CONNECTION	Cannot be used as an identifier in a SHOW command (e.g. ‘SHOW … IN <identifier>’).
CONSTRAINT	Cannot be used as a column name in CREATE TABLE DDL.
CREATE	Reserved by ANSI.
CROSS	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
CURRENT	Reserved by ANSI.
CURRENT_DATE	Cannot be used as column name (reserved by ANSI).
CURRENT_TIME	Cannot be used as column name (reserved by ANSI).
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP	Cannot be used as column name (reserved by ANSI).
CURRENT_USER	Cannot be used as column name (reserved by ANSI).
D
DATABASE	Cannot be used as an identifier in a SHOW command (e.g. ‘SHOW … IN <identifier>’).
DELETE	Reserved by ANSI.
DISTINCT	Reserved by ANSI.
DROP	Reserved by ANSI.
E
ELSE	Reserved by ANSI.
EXISTS	Reserved by ANSI.
F
FALSE	Cannot be used as column reference in a scalar expression.
FOLLOWING	Reserved by ANSI.
FOR	Reserved by ANSI.
FROM	Reserved by ANSI.
FULL	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
G
GRANT	Reserved by ANSI.
GROUP	Reserved by ANSI.
GSCLUSTER	Cannot be used as an identifier in a SHOW command (e.g. ‘SHOW … IN <identifier>’).
H
HAVING	Reserved by ANSI.
I
ILIKE	Reserved by Snowflake.
IN	Reserved by ANSI.
INCREMENT	Reserved by Snowflake and others.
INNER	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
INSERT	Reserved by ANSI.
INTERSECT	Reserved by ANSI.
INTO	Reserved by ANSI.
IS	Reserved by ANSI.
ISSUE	Cannot be used as an identifier in a SHOW command (e.g. ‘SHOW … IN <identifier>’).
J
JOIN	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
L
LATERAL	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
LEFT	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
LIKE	Reserved by ANSI.
LOCALTIME	Cannot be used as column name (reserved by ANSI).
LOCALTIMESTAMP	Cannot be used as column name (reserved by ANSI).
M
MINUS	Reserved by Snowflake and others.
N
NATURAL	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
NOT	Reserved by ANSI.
NULL	Reserved by ANSI.
O
OF	Reserved by ANSI.
ON	Reserved by ANSI.
OR	Reserved by ANSI.
ORDER	Reserved by ANSI.
ORGANIZATION	Cannot be used as an identifier in a SHOW command (e.g. ‘SHOW … IN <identifier>’).
Q
QUALIFY	Reserved by Snowflake.
R
REGEXP	Reserved by Snowflake.
REVOKE	Reserved by ANSI.
RIGHT	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
RLIKE	Reserved by Snowflake.
ROW	Reserved by ANSI.
ROWS	Reserved by ANSI.
S
SAMPLE	Reserved by ANSI.
SCHEMA	Cannot be used as an identifier in a SHOW command (e.g. ‘SHOW … IN <identifier>’).
SELECT	Reserved by ANSI.
SET	Reserved by ANSI.
SOME	Reserved by Snowflake.
START	Reserved by ANSI.
T
TABLE	Reserved by ANSI.
TABLESAMPLE	Reserved by ANSI.
THEN	Reserved by ANSI.
TO	Reserved by ANSI.
TRIGGER	Reserved by ANSI.
TRUE	Cannot be used as column reference in a scalar expression.
TRY_CAST	Cannot be used as column reference in a scalar expression.
U
UNION	Reserved by ANSI.
UNIQUE	Reserved by ANSI.
UPDATE	Reserved by ANSI.
USING	Cannot be used as table name or alias in a FROM clause.
V
VALUES	Reserved by ANSI.
VIEW	Cannot be used as an identifier in a SHOW command (e.g. ‘SHOW … IN <identifier>’).
W
WHEN	Cannot be used as column reference in a scalar expression.
WHENEVER	Reserved by ANSI.
WHERE	Reserved by ANSI.
WITH	Reserved by ANSI.