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Why should I capitalize my SQL keywords?
hi,
I'm pretty new to SQL, but i've noticed that writing
SELECT * FROM column_name
is almost always used when
select * from column_name
yields exactly the same result. I can't find anything online about this. Is this just a convention? Or will not using uppercase break the script on older systems/systems that i'm not aware of?
thanks
908
For readability, all SQL commands should be written in uppercase letters. This allows the reader to identify the keywords in the SQL statement and easily determine what the query is executing.
Keywords in SQL are case-insensitive for the most popular DBMSs. The computer doesn't care whether you write SELECT , select, or sELeCt ; so, in theory, you can write however you like.
Whenever you want some text data from your SQL database to be displayed in lowercase, use the LOWER() function. This function takes as an argument a string or the name of a column whose text values are to be displayed in lowercase.
The SQL keywords (SELECT, FROM, WHERE, etc.) are case-insensitive, yet they are frequently expressed in all capitals. Table and column names are case-sensitive in some settings. MySQL provides a setting that allows you to enable or disable it.
SQL was developed in the 1970s when the popular programming languages (like COBOL) used ALL CAPS, and the convention must have stuck.
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