Query editor

The query editor runs native statements against a connection. Each run opens a result tab, names are completed as you type, and every run is kept in the query history. A result can be written to a file with :export. Statements that change data run here too, inside a transaction if you want one; for row-by-row changes use inline editing.

ctrl+e (or :editor) opens a multi-line editor below the grid. It works on the connection of the open collection, or the one selected in the sidebar, and runs in the open collection’s namespace. Each connection keeps its own buffer for the session. The editor is highlighted for the connection’s dialect:

• Type, paste, enter (keeps the indent), tab (two spaces), arrows, home/end, alt+left and alt+right by word, ctrl+home/ctrl+end for the buffer ends. shift with a movement key selects. The buffer holds at most 1 MiB; a bigger paste is refused.
• ctrl+enter runs the statement under the cursor, or the selection. Many terminals send ctrl+enter only with the kitty keyboard protocol, which tobira asks for; F5 works everywhere. See how statements are split.
• alt+enter (or shift+F5) runs the whole buffer, and refuses a buffer that holds more than one statement.
• ctrl+c cancels a running statement; with nothing running it quits, as elsewhere.
• esc gives the focus back to the grid and leaves the editor open; ctrl+e closes it. When the completion popup is open, the first esc closes only the popup.

How statements are split

ctrl+enter finds the statement under the cursor by splitting the buffer:

• SQL is split at ; outside strings, quoted names, comments and dollar quotes, with each dialect’s own quoting rules (for example T-SQL […] names and Oracle q'…' strings).
• Oracle PL/SQL: a block (BEGIN, DECLARE, CREATE … PROCEDURE, FUNCTION, PACKAGE, TRIGGER or TYPE) keeps its semicolons and runs to a line holding only /, or to the end of the buffer.
• JSON queries are split into their top-level values, never at ;. So is a Cosmos DB query written as a JSON envelope.
• Not recognised: GoogleSQL triple-quoted strings, and // comments in CQL and Snowflake.

Completion

A popup of names opens below the cursor (above it near the bottom), with each name’s kind. It opens by itself after a . and once two characters of a name are typed, and ctrl+space opens it at any point. Typing more narrows the list at once (it closes when nothing matches) and asks again after a short pause; typing never waits for it.

• ↑/↓ or ctrl+p/ctrl+n choose, tab or enter insert the choice in place of the name being typed, and esc closes the popup. A name typed inside quotes keeps its quotes. When the popup is closed, enter and tab work as usual. ctrl+enter, F5 and the other run keys close it.
• Names come from the driver’s completion (keywords, namespaces, collections and fields, in context) plus the names tobira already knows: the namespaces and collections loaded in the sidebar and the columns of collections opened in the grid. A driver without completion still gets those. At most 200 names are shown.
• The popup does not open by itself inside a string or a comment, as far as the highlighter can tell (a string opened far above the screen may be missed); ctrl+space still works there. Moving the cursor off the name, or a lookup that finds nothing, closes the popup.
• Drivers cache catalog names for 60 seconds. :reload drops that cache (and tobira’s own), and so does a successful statement that returns no columns (DDL or DML), so a new table shows up at once.

History

↑ on the first line steps back through the queries run on this connection, newest first; consecutive repeats, and the text you had typed, show once. ↓ on the last line steps forward, and past the newest query brings back what you had typed. That only works while you are walking: editing a recalled query keeps the edit and ends the walk, and what you had typed before is gone.

ctrl+r searches the history as you type, shown in the editor’s last line as (reverse-i-search) 'term': <query> (a multi-line query shows ⏎ for its line breaks). ctrl+r again finds the next older match, enter keeps the match in the editor, and esc or ctrl+g puts back what was there, as does ctrl+c (which does not quit while searching). Any other key keeps the match and then acts as usual. A failed read shows search failed. The search needs an editor at least two lines tall for its prompt. Both need the query history file; when it cannot be opened they are off.

Result tabs

Each run opens a result tab, N:<first 12 characters>, next to the browse tab (the open collection). Up to 9 are kept; a tenth run closes the oldest. [ and ] cycle through the tabs and x closes one (not the browse tab). A result shows at most the row limit (:set limit), with Truncated in the title when rows were cut; there is no unlimited mode. A statement without columns shows N rows affected. Sort and filter apply to the browse tab only. The status bar shows the active tab’s rows and run time. Click a tab to switch, and click the editor to focus it and place the cursor.

Runs honour the read-only guard: a write on a read-only connection is refused with a lock message. Every run, :explain included, is recorded in the query history with credentials masked.

Commands

Known limitations

Highlighting has one known display limitation. To keep typing fast in large buffers, each edit re-lexes only the lines on screen plus the 100 lines above them. A string or block comment that opens more than 100 lines above the visible part can therefore be coloured wrongly until you scroll up to it. Only the colours are affected: what runs is always the text in the buffer. A pasted tab becomes two spaces.