SQL string formatter [closed]

Question

Does anyone know of a program, a utility, or some programmatic library, preferably for Linux, that takes an unformatted SQL string and pretty prints it?

For example I would like the following

select * from users where name = 'Paul'

be changed to something like this

select * 
from users
where
   name = 'Paul'

The exact formatting is not important. I just need something to take a large SQL string and break it up into something more readable.

Answer 1

http://www.sqlinform.com/

This tool reformats SQL code. I've used it with awesome results. It's free as a webapp and has a downloadable version as well.

Answer 2

Check out sqlparse. It is a Python module that installs the command sqlformat. Usage is simple, e.g.:

sqlformat --reindent --keywords upper --identifiers lower my_file.sql

I tried the aforementioned CLI alternatives, but:

• sqlinform is out, because I want an open source CLI application.
• fsqlf has only few features (create view is missing for example).

Thanks to sqlformat I even learned that "REF" is a reserved keyword in SQL:2011 and SQL:2008.

Answer 3

fsqlf (http://sourceforge.net/projects/fsqlf/) is a command line or GUI program, open source, to format SQL. It supports having a formatting.conf file which allows you a lot of flexibility in how the final product looks.

Examples:

☺  [wwalker@speedy:~] 
$ echo "select f1, f2, fname, lName from tblName where f1 = true and fname is not null order by lName asc" | fsqlf 

SELECT
  f1
, f2
, fname
, lName
FROM tblName
WHERE f1=true
AND fname is not null
ORDER BY lName asc
☺  [wwalker@speedy:~] 
$ vim formatting.conf # 2 character change
☺  [wwalker@speedy:~] 
$ echo "select f1, f2, fname, lName from tblName where f1 = true and fname is not null order by lName asc" | fsqlf 

SELECT
 f1 ,
 f2 ,
 fname ,
 lName
FROM tblName
WHERE f1=true
AND fname is not null
ORDER BY lName asc
☺  [wwalker@speedy:~] 
$ vim formatting.conf # 1 character change
☺  [wwalker@speedy:~] 
$ echo "select f1, f2, fname, lName from tblName where f1 = true and fname is not null order by lName asc" | fsqlf 

SELECT
 f1 , f2 , fname , lName
FROM tblName
WHERE f1=true
AND fname is not null
ORDER BY lName asc
☺  [wwalker@speedy:~] 
$ 

Answer 4

I enjoy using http://www.dpriver.com - it's a nice add-in to SQL Server Management Studio.

Answer 5

This one looks good.

http://www.sqlinform.com/

There is this as well.

http://www.wangz.net/cgi-bin/pp/gsqlparser/sqlpp/sqlformat.tpl

Answer 6

Not that I recommend spending the (relatively large) money on it for just this purpose, but Toad has a feature built in that does exactly what you're wanting.

It includes a bunch of options allowing you to set up exactly how you want your SQL formatted (all columns on separate lines, etc.). Pretty nice, but only if you've already got Toad. I know the Oracle version does this, but I'd assume the SQL Server or other versions would as well.