formal-shape-grammar.md

title	Formal Shape Grammar | Microsoft Docs
ms.prod	sql
ms.prod_service	connectivity
ms.technology	connectivity
ms.custom
ms.date	01/19/2017
ms.reviewer
ms.topic	conceptual
helpviewer_keywords	shape commands [ADO], shape grammar data shaping [ADO], shape grammar
ms.assetid	ea691475-0f03-4abe-a785-b77e77712d1d
author	MightyPen
ms.author	genemi

Formal Shape Grammar

This is the formal grammar for creating any shape command:

• Required grammatical terms are text strings delimited by angle brackets ("<>").

• Optional terms are delimited by square brackets ("[ ]").

• Alternatives are indicated by a virgule ("|").

• Repeating alternatives are indicated by an ellipsis ("...").

• Alpha indicates a string of alphabetical letters.

• Digit indicates a string of numbers.

• Unicode-digit indicates a string of unicode digits.

All other terms are literals.

Term	Definition
<shape-command>	SHAPE [<table-exp> [[AS] <alias>]][<shape-action>]
<table-exp>	{<provider-command-text>} | (<shape-command>) | TABLE <quoted-name> | <quoted-name>
<shape-action>	APPEND <aliased-field-list> | COMPUTE <aliased-field-list> [BY <field-list>]
<aliased-field-list>	<aliased-field> [, <aliased-field...>]
<aliased-field>	<field-exp> [[AS] <alias>]
<field-exp>	(<relation-exp>) | <calculated-exp> | <aggregate-exp> | <new-exp>
<relation_exp>	<table-exp> [[AS] <alias>] RELATE <relation-cond-list>
<relation-cond-list>	<relation-cond> [, <relation-cond>...]
<relation-cond>	<field-name> TO <child-ref>
<child-ref>	<field-name> | PARAMETER <param-ref>
<param-ref>	<number>
<field-list>	<field-name> [, <field-name>]
<aggregate-exp>	SUM(<qualified-field-name>) | AVG(<qualified-field-name>) | MIN(<qualified-field-name>) | MAX(<qualified-field-name>) | COUNT(<qualified-alias> | <qualified-name>) | STDEV(<qualified-field-name>) | ANY(<qualified-field-name>)
<calculated-exp>	CALC(<expression>)
<qualified-field-name>	<alias>.[<alias>...]<field-name>
<alias>	<quoted-name>
<field-name>	<quoted-name> [[AS] <alias>]
<quoted-name>	"<string>" | '<string>' | [<string>] | <name>
<qualified-name>	alias[.alias...]
<name>	alpha [ alpha | digit | _ | # | : | ...]
<number>	digit [digit...]
<new-exp>	NEW <field-type> [(<number> [, <number>])]
<field-type>	An OLE DB or ADO data type.
<string>	unicode-char [unicode-char...]
<expression>	A Visual Basic for Applications expression whose operands are other non-CALC columns in the same row.

See Also

Accessing Rows in a Hierarchical Recordset
Data Shaping Overview
Required Providers for Data Shaping
Shape APPEND Clause
Shape Commands in General
Shape COMPUTE Clause
Visual Basic for Applications functions