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	AUTO	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	CORRELATED	COUNT	COUNTER
CPU	CREATE	CREATECLUSTER	CREATEDB
CREATENETWORKPOLICY	CREATEROLE	CREATION	CREDENTIAL
CROSS	CSE	CSV	CTE
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
DURATION	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	FIXED
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
LINGER	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
SCALING	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