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	ACCOUNT
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	GCP
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