Terminology

This table defines commonly used terms in the VQL reference.

Convention	Description	Examples
Clause	A clause controls the source, filtering, and presentation of retrieved data.	FROM documents ORDER BY id ASC
SELECT statement	The SELECT statement retrieves records from Vault. It must contain the SELECT and FROM clauses and may contain additional clauses.	SELECT id FROM documents SELECT id FROM documents WHERE name__v = 'USA'
Expression	An expression evaluates to a single value. A logical expression evaluates to a boolean value.	created_date__v > '2014-12-20'
Logical operator	A logical operator is used in a WHERE or FIND clause to build a logical expression.	AND IN CONTAINS
Comparison operator	A comparison operator is used in a WHERE or FIND clause to create a logical expression that compares two values.	<= !=
Function	A function returns a value. It either retrieves or modifies the specified field value.	CASEINSENSITIVE(name__v)
Query target	A query target is a collection of Vault data that supports VQL queries. The object in a VQL query may be a Vault object or another query target such as documents or users.	SELECT {field} FROM {query target} SELECT id FROM product__v SELECT id FROM users
Query target option	A query target option filters or modifies the queryable field, object, or set of results that follow it.	LATESTVERSION name__v
Vault object	A Vault object is part of the application data model, such as Product, Country, or Study, and can be used as a query target.	product__v