TLDR Dev · ARTICLES & TUTORIALS

UNDERSTANDING SQL PARSERS

nishchith.com12 min read

Summary from the TLDR Dev newsletter

SQL parsers convert SQL text into tree structures that computers can analyze. There are many different parsers because every database has its own dialect quirks, so no single parser handles everything perfectly. If you just need to analyze queries, extract lineage, or convert between dialects, then a SQL parser is good for that, while a query engine is needed for actually running queries.