In Materialize, identifiers are used to refer to columns and database objects like sources, views, and indexes.

Naming restrictions

Materialize has the following naming restrictions for identifiers:

Position	Allowed Characters
First character	ASCII letters (a-z, A-Z), underscore (_), or any non-ASCII character
Remaining	ASCII letters (a-z, A-Z), digits (0-9), underscores (_), dollar sign ($), or any non-ASCII character

To override these restrictions, you can enclose the identifier in double quotes; e.g., "123_source" or "fun_source_@". Inside double quotes, characters are interpreted literally, except for the double-quote character itself. To include a double quote within a double-quoted identifier, escape it by writing two adjacent double quotes, as in “includes"“quote”.

Case sensitivity

Materialize performs case folding (the caseless comparison of text) for identifiers, which means that identifiers are effectively case-insensitive (foo is the same as FOO is the same as fOo). This can cause issues when column names come from data sources which do support case-sensitive names, such as Avro-formatted sources.

To avoid conflicts, double-quote all field names ("field_name") when working with case-sensitive sources.

Renaming restrictions

You cannot rename an item if any of the following are true:

• It is not uniquely qualified across all dependent references.

  For example, suppose you have:

  • Two views named v1 in different databases (d1 and d2) under the same schema name (s1), and
  • Both v1 views are referenced by another view.

  You may rename either v1 only if every dependent query that mentions both views fully qualifies all such references, e.g.:

  CREATE VIEW v2 AS
  SELECT *
  FROM d1.s1.v1
  JOIN d2.s1.v1
  ON d1.s1.v1.a = d2.s1.v1.a;
  

  If the two views were instead in schemas with distinct names, qualifying by schema alone would be sufficient (you would not need to include the database name).

• Renaming would cause any identifier collision with a dependent query.

  • An existing collision: a dependent query already uses the item’s current identifier for some database, schema, object, or column, so changing the item’s name would change how that identifier resolves.

    In the examples below, v1 cannot be renamed because dependent queries already use the identifier v1:

    • Any dependent query references a database, schema, or column that uses the same identifier.

      In the following examples, v1 could not be renamed:

      CREATE VIEW v3 AS
      SELECT *
      FROM v1
      JOIN v2
      ON v1.a = v2.v1
      

      CREATE VIEW v4 AS
      SELECT *
      FROM v1
      JOIN v1.v2
      ON v1.a = v2.a
      

  • A proposed-name collision: the new name matches any identifier referenced in a dependent query, whether that identifier is referenced explicitly or implicitly.

    Consider this example:

    CREATE VIEW v5 AS
    SELECT *
    FROM d1.s1.v2
    JOIN v1
    ON v1.a = v2.b
    

    You could not rename v1 to:

    • a
    • b
    • v2
    • s1
    • d1
    • materialize or public (implicitly referenced by materialize.public.v1 using the default database and schema)

Keyword collision

Materialize is very permissive with accepting SQL keywords as identifiers (e.g. offset, user). If Materialize cannot use a keyword as an identifier in a particular location, it throws a syntax error. You can wrap the identifier in double quotes to force Materialize to interpret the word as an identifier instead of a keyword.

For example, SELECT offset is invalid, because it looks like a mistyping of SELECT OFFSET <n>. You can wrap the identifier in double quotes, as in SELECT "offset", to resolve the error.

We recommend that you avoid using keywords as identifiers whenever possible, as the syntax errors that result are not always obvious.

The current keywords are listed below.

ABORT	ACCESS	ACTION
ADD	ADDED	ADDRESS	ADDRESSES
AFTER	AGGREGATE	AGGREGATION	ALIGNED
ALL	ALTER	ANALYSE	ANALYSIS
ANALYZE	AND	ANY	APPEND
APPLY	ARITY	ARN	ARRANGED
ARRANGEMENT	ARRAY	AS	ASC
ASSERT	ASSUME	AT	AUCTION
AUTHORITY	AVAILABILITY	AVRO	AWS
BATCH	BEGIN	BETWEEN	BIGINT
BILLED	BODY	BOOLEAN	BOTH
BPCHAR	BROKEN	BROKER	BROKERS
BY	BYTES	CAPTURE	CARDINALITY
CASCADE	CASE	CAST	CATALOG
CERTIFICATE	CHAIN	CHAINS	CHAR
CHARACTER	CHARACTERISTICS	CHECK	CLASS
CLIENT	CLOCK	CLOSE	CLUSTER
CLUSTERS	COALESCE	COLLATE	COLUMN
COLUMNS	COMMENT	COMMIT	COMMITTED
COMPACTION	COMPATIBILITY	COMPRESSION	COMPUTE
COMPUTECTL	CONFIG	CONFLUENT	CONNECTION
CONNECTIONS	CONSTRAINT	COPY	COUNT
COUNTER	CPU	CREATE	CREATECLUSTER
CREATEDB	CREATENETWORKPOLICY	CREATEROLE	CREATION
CREDENTIAL	CROSS	CSE	CSV
CURRENT	CURSOR	DATABASE	DATABASES
DATUMS	DAY	DAYS	DEALLOCATE
DEBEZIUM	DEBUG	DEBUGGING	DEC
DECIMAL	DECLARE	DECODING	DECORRELATED
DEFAULT	DEFAULTS	DELETE	DELIMITED
DELIMITER	DELTA	DESC	DETAILS
DIRECTION	DISCARD	DISK	DISTINCT
DOC	DOT	DOUBLE	DROP
EAGER	ELEMENT	ELSE	ENABLE
END	ENDPOINT	ENFORCED	ENVELOPE
EQUIVALENCES	ERROR	ERRORS	ESCAPE
ESTIMATE	EVERY	EXCEPT	EXCLUDE
EXECUTE	EXISTS	EXPECTED	EXPLAIN
EXPOSE	EXPRESSIONS	EXTERNAL	EXTRACT
FACTOR	FALSE	FAST	FEATURES
FETCH	FIELDS	FILE	FILES
FILTER	FIRST	FIXPOINT	FLOAT
FOLLOWING	FOR	FOREIGN	FORMAT
FORWARD	FROM	FULL	FULLNAME
FUNCTION	FUSION	GENERATOR	GLUE
GRANT	GREATEST	GROUP	GROUPS
HAVING	HEADER	HEADERS	HINTS
HISTORY	HOLD	HOST	HOUR
HOURS	HUMANIZED	HYDRATION	ICEBERG
ID	IDENTIFIERS	IDS	IF
IGNORE	ILIKE	IMPLEMENTATIONS	IMPORTED
IN	INCLUDE	INDEX	INDEXES
INFO	INHERIT	INLINE	INNER
INPUT	INSERT	INSIGHTS	INSPECT
INSTANCE	INT	INTEGER	INTERNAL
INTERSECT	INTERVAL	INTO	INTROSPECTION
IS	ISNULL	ISOLATION	JOIN
JOINS	JSON	KAFKA	KEY
KEYS	LAST	LATERAL	LATEST
LEADING	LEAST	LEFT	LEGACY
LETREC	LEVEL	LIKE	LIMIT
LINEAR	LIST	LOAD	LOCAL
LOCALLY	LOG	LOGICAL	LOGIN
LOWERING	MANAGED	MANUAL	MAP
MARKETING	MATCHING	MATERIALIZE	MATERIALIZED
MAX	MECHANISMS	MEMBERSHIP	MEMORY
MESSAGE	METADATA	MINUTE	MINUTES
MOCK	MODE	MONTH	MONTHS
MUTUALLY	MYSQL	NAME	NAMES
NAMESPACE	NATURAL	NEGATIVE	NETWORK
NEW	NEXT	NFC	NFD
NFKC	NFKD	NO	NOCREATECLUSTER
NOCREATEDB	NOCREATEROLE	NODE	NOINHERIT
NOLOGIN	NON	NONE	NORMALIZE
NOSUPERUSER	NOT	NOTICE	NOTICES
NULL	NULLIF	NULLS	OBJECTS
OF	OFFSET	ON	ONLY
OPERATOR	OPTIMIZED	OPTIMIZER	OPTIONS
OR	ORDER	ORDINALITY	OUTER
OVER	OWNED	OWNER	PARTITION
PARTITIONS	PASSWORD	PATH	PATTERN
PHYSICAL	PLAN	PLANS	POLICIES
POLICY	PORT	POSITION	POSTGRES
PRECEDING	PRECISION	PREFIX	PREPARE
PRIMARY	PRIORITIZE	PRIVATELINK	PRIVILEGES
PROGRESS	PROJECTION	PROTOBUF	PROTOCOL
PUBLIC	PUBLICATION	PUSHDOWN	QUALIFY
QUERY	QUOTE	RAISE	RANGE
RATE	RAW	READ	READY
REAL	REASSIGN	RECURSION	RECURSIVE
REDACTED	REDUCE	REFERENCE	REFERENCES
REFRESH	REGEX	REGION	REGISTRY
RELATION	RENAME	REOPTIMIZE	REPEATABLE
REPLACE	REPLACEMENT	REPLAN	REPLICA
REPLICAS	REPLICATION	RESET	RESPECT
RESTRICT	RETAIN	RETURN	RETURNING
REVOKE	RIGHT	ROLE	ROLES
ROLLBACK	ROTATE	ROUNDS	ROW
ROWS	RULES	SASL	SCALE
SCHEDULE	SCHEMA	SCHEMAS	SCOPE
SECOND	SECONDS	SECRET	SECRETS
SECURITY	SEED	SELECT	SEQUENCES
SERIALIZABLE	SERVER	SERVICE	SESSION
SET	SHARD	SHOW	SINK
SINKS	SIZE	SKEW	SMALLINT
SNAPSHOT	SOME	SOURCE	SOURCES
SQL	SSH	SSL	START
STDIN	STDOUT	STORAGE	STORAGECTL
STRATEGY	STRICT	STRING	STRONG
SUBSCRIBE	SUBSOURCE	SUBSOURCES	SUBSTRING
SUBTREE	SUPERUSER	SWAP	SYNTAX
SYSTEM	TABLE	TABLES	TAIL
TEMP	TEMPORARY	TEST	TEXT
THEN	TICK	TIES	TIME
TIMEOUT	TIMESTAMP	TIMESTAMPTZ	TIMING
TO	TOKEN	TOPIC	TPCH
TRACE	TRAILING	TRANSACTION	TRANSACTIONAL
TRANSFORM	TRIM	TRUE	TUNNEL
TYPE	TYPES	UNBOUNDED	UNCOMMITTED
UNION	UNIQUE	UNIT	UNKNOWN
UNNEST	UNTIL	UP	UPDATE
UPSERT	URL	USAGE	USER
USERNAME	USERS	USING	VALIDATE
VALUE	VALUES	VARCHAR	VARIADIC
VARYING	VERBOSE	VERSION	VIEW
VIEWS	WAIT	WAREHOUSE	WARNING
WEBHOOK	WHEN	WHERE	WHILE
WINDOW	WIRE	WITH	WITHIN
WITHOUT	WORK	WORKERS	WORKLOAD
WRITE	YEAR	YEARS	ZONE
ZONES