SQL support in GRASS GIS about:reader?url=https://grass.osgeo.org/grass7...

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SQL support in GRASS GIS

6-8 minutos

SQL support in GRASS GIS

Vector points, lines and areas usually have attribute data that
are stored in DBMS. The attributes are linked to each vector
object using a category number (attribute ID, usually the "cat"
integer column). The category numbers are stored both in the
vector geometry and the attribute table.

GRASS GIS supports various RDBMS (Relational database

management system) and embedded databases. SQL
(Structured Query Language) queries are directly passed to
the underlying database system. The set of supported SQL
commands depends on the RDMBS and database driver
selected.

Database drivers

The default database driver used by GRASS GIS 7 is SQLite.

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GRASS GIS handles multiattribute vector data by default. The

db.* set of commands provides basic SQL support for attribute
management, while the v.db.* set of commands operates on
vector maps.

Note: The list of available database drivers can vary in various

binary distributions of GRASS GIS:

sqlite Data storage in http://sqlite.org/

SQLite database
files (default DB
backend)

dbf Data storage in DBF http://shapelib.maptools.org

files /dbf_api.html

pg Data storage in http://postgresql.org/

PostgreSQL RDBMS

mysql Data storage in http://mysql.org/

MySQL RDBMS

odbc Data storage via http://www.unixodbc.org/

UnixODBC
(PostgreSQL,
Oracle, etc.)

ogr Data storage in OGR http://gdal.org/

files

NOTES

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Database table name restrictions

No dots are allowed as SQL does not support '.' (dots) in table
names.

Supported table name characters are only:

A table name must start with a character, not a number.

Text-string matching requires the text part to be 'single quoted'.

When run from the command line multiple queries should be
contained in "double quotes". e.g.
d.vect map where="individual='juvenile' and
area='beach'"
Attempts to use a reserved SQL word (depends on database
backend) as column or table name will cause a "SQL syntax
error".

An error message such as "dbmi: Protocol error" either

indicates an invalid column name or an unsupported column
type (then the GRASS SQL parser needs to be extended).

DBF column names are limited to 10 characters (DBF API

definition).

Database table column types

The supported types of columns depend on the database

backend. However, all backends should support VARCHAR,
INT, DOUBLE PRECISION and DATE.

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EXAMPLES

Display of vector feature selected by attribute query

Display all vector points except for LAMAR valley and

extensive trapping (brackets are superfluous in this example):

g.region vector=schools_wake -p
d.mon wx0
d.vect roadsmajor

# all schools
d.vect schools_wake fcol=black
icon=basic/diamond col=white size=13

# numerical selection: show schools with

capacity of above 1000 kids:
d.vect schools_wake fcol=blue
icon=basic/diamond col=white size=13 \
where="CAPACITYTO > 1000"

# string selection: all schools outside of

Raleigh
# along with higher level schools in Raleigh
d.vect schools_wake fcol=red
icon=basic/diamond col=white size=13 \
where="ADDRCITY <> 'Raleigh' OR (ADDRCITY
= 'Raleigh' AND GLEVEL = 'H')"

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Select all attributes from table where CORECAPACI column

values are smaller than 200 (children):

# must be run from the mapset which contains

the table
echo "SELECT * FROM schools_wake WHERE
CORECAPACI < 200" | db.select input=-
Example of subquery expressions from a list (not supported
for DBF driver):

v.db.select schools_wake where="ADDRCITY IN

('Apex', 'Wendell')"

Example of pattern matching

# field contains string:

# for DBF driver:
v.extract schools_wake out=elementary_schools
where="NAMELONG LIKE 'ELEM'"
# for SQLite driver:
v.extract schools_wake out=rivers_noce
where="DES LIKE '%NOCE%'"
v.extract schools_wake out=elementary_schools
where="NAMELONG LIKE '%ELEM%'"

# match exactly number of characters (here:

2), does not work for DBF driver:
v.db.select mysites where="id LIKE 'P__'"

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#define wildcard:
v.db.select mysites where="id LIKE 'P%'"

Example of null handling

v.db.addcolumn map=roads col="nulltest int"

v.db.update map=roads col=nulltest value=1
where="cat > 2"
d.vect roads where="nulltest is null"
v.db.update map=roads col=nulltest value=2
where="cat <= 2"

Update of attributes

Examples of complex expressions in updates (using

v.db.*
modules):

v.db.addcolumn map=roads column="exprtest

double precision"
v.db.update map=roads column=exprtest
value="cat/nulltest"
v.db.update map=roads column=exprtest
value="cat/nulltest+cat" where="cat=1"

# using data from another column

v.db.update map=roads column=exprtest
qcolumn="(cat*100.)/SHAPE_LEN."

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Examples of more complex expressions in updates (using

db.* modules):

echo "UPDATE roads SET exprtest=null"

echo "UPDATE roads SET exprtest=cat/2" |
db.execute
echo "UPDATE roads SET exprtest=cat/2+cat/3" |
db.execute
echo "UPDATE roads SET exprtest=NULL WHERE
cat>2" | db.execute
echo "UPDATE roads SET exprtest=cat/3*(cat+1)
WHERE exprtest IS NULL" | db.execute"
Instead of creating and updating new columns with an
expression, you can use the expression directly in a
command:

d.vect roads where="(cat/3*(cat+1))>8"

d.vect roads where="cat>exprtest"

Example of changing a SQL type (type casting)

Note: not supported for DBF driver.

North Carolina data set: convert string column to double

precision:

# first copy map into current mapset

g.copy vect=geodetic_pts,mygeodetic_pts
v.db.addcolumn mygeodetic_pts col="zval double
precision"

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# the 'z_value' col contains 'N/A' strings,

not to be converted
v.db.update mygeodetic_pts col=zval \
qcol="CAST(z_value AS double
precision)" \
where="z_value <> 'N/A'"

Example of concatenation of fields

Note: not supported for DBF driver.

v.db.update vectormap column=column3

qcolumn="column1 || column2"

Example of conditions

Conditions (like if statements) are usually written as CASE

statement in SQL:

v.db.update vectormap column=species

qcolumn="CASE WHEN col1 >= 12 THEN cat else
NULL end"

# a more complex example with nested

conditions
v.db.update vectormap column=species
qcolumn="CASE WHEN col1 >= 1 THEN cat WHEN row
= 13 then 0 ELSE NULL end"

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SEE ALSO

db.connect, db.select, db.execute, v.db.connect, v.db.select,

v.db.update

Database management in GRASS GIS, Help pages for

database modules

Last changed: $Date$

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© 2003-2019 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS

7.8.1dev Reference Manual

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