Tuple(T1, T2, …)

A tuple of elements, each having an individual type. Tuple must contain at least one element.

Tuples are used for temporary column grouping. Columns can be grouped when an IN expression is used in a query, and for specifying certain formal parameters of lambda functions. For more information, see the sections IN operators and Higher order functions.

Tuples can be the result of a query. In this case, for text formats other than JSON, values are comma-separated in brackets. In JSON formats, tuples are output as arrays (in square brackets).

Creating a Tuple

You can use a function to create a tuple:

tuple(T1, T2, ...)

Example of creating a tuple:

SELECT tuple(1,'a') AS x, toTypeName(x)

┌─x───────┬─toTypeName(tuple(1, 'a'))─┐
│ (1,'a') │ Tuple(UInt8, String)      │
└─────────┴───────────────────────────┘

Tuple can contain a single element

Example:

SELECT tuple('a') AS x;

┌─x─────┐
│ ('a') │
└───────┘

There is a syntax sugar using parentheses ( tuple_element1, tuple_element2 ) to create a tuple of several elements without tuple function.

Example:

SELECT (1, 'a') AS x, (today(), rand(), 'someString') y, ('a') not_a_tuple;

┌─x───────┬─y──────────────────────────────────────┬─not_a_tuple─┐
│ (1,'a') │ ('2022-09-21',2006973416,'someString') │ a           │
└─────────┴────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┘

Working with Data Types

When creating a tuple on the fly, ClickHouse automatically detects the type of each argument as the minimum of the types which can store the argument value. If the argument is NULL, the type of the tuple element is Nullable.

Example of automatic data type detection:

SELECT tuple(1, NULL) AS x, toTypeName(x)

┌─x────────┬─toTypeName(tuple(1, NULL))──────┐
│ (1,NULL) │ Tuple(UInt8, Nullable(Nothing)) │
└──────────┴─────────────────────────────────┘

Addressing Tuple Elements

It is possible to read elements of named tuples using indexes and names:

CREATE TABLE named_tuples (`a` Tuple(s String, i Int64)) ENGINE = Memory;

INSERT INTO named_tuples VALUES (('y', 10)), (('x',-10));

SELECT a.s FROM named_tuples;

SELECT a.2 FROM named_tuples;

Result:

┌─a.s─┐
│ y   │
│ x   │
└─────┘

┌─tupleElement(a, 2)─┐
│                 10 │
│                -10 │
└────────────────────┘

Comparison operations with Tuple

The operation of comparing two tuples is performed sequentially element by element from left to right. If the element of the first tuple is greater than the corresponding element of the second tuple, then the first tuple is greater than the second, if the elements are equal, the next element is compared.

Example:

SELECT (1, 'z') > (1, 'a') c1, (2022, 01, 02) > (2023, 04, 02) c2, (1,2,3) = (3,2,1) c3;

┌─c1─┬─c2─┬─c3─┐
│  1 │  0 │  0 │
└────┴────┴────┘

Real world examples:

CREATE TABLE test
(
    `year` Int16,
    `month` Int8,
    `day` Int8
)
ENGINE = Memory AS
SELECT *
FROM values((2022, 12, 31), (2000, 1, 1));

SELECT * FROM test;

┌─year─┬─month─┬─day─┐
│ 2022 │    12 │  31 │
│ 2000 │     1 │   1 │
└──────┴───────┴─────┘

SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE (year, month, day) > (2010, 1, 1);

┌─year─┬─month─┬─day─┐
│ 2022 │    12 │  31 │
└──────┴───────┴─────┘


CREATE TABLE test
(
    `key` Int64,
    `duration` UInt32,
    `value` Float64
)
ENGINE = Memory AS
SELECT *
FROM values((1, 42, 66.5), (1, 42, 70), (2, 1, 10), (2, 2, 0));

SELECT * FROM test;

┌─key─┬─duration─┬─value─┐
│   1 │       42 │  66.5 │
│   1 │       42 │    70 │
│   2 │        1 │    10 │
│   2 │        2 │     0 │
└─────┴──────────┴───────┘

-- Let's find a value for each key with the biggest duration, if durations are equal, select the biggest value

SELECT
    key,
    max(duration),
    argMax(value, (duration, value))
FROM test
GROUP BY key
ORDER BY key ASC;

┌─key─┬─max(duration)─┬─argMax(value, tuple(duration, value))─┐
│   1 │            42 │                                    70 │
│   2 │             2 │                                     0 │
└─────┴───────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘