This section briefly explains the meaning of symbolic notations used to describe grammar in this document. The query grammar rules are presented using Backus-Naur Form (BNF) syntax notation.
The following table of conventions is not a complete description of BNF, but it can help you read the grammar rules presented in this document.
Symbol | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
(A word in angle brackets.) |
The word presented in angle brackets is not meant to be literally used in a statement; its rules are further defined elsewhere. | When reading the following syntax,
you know that |
(A word in angle brackets, followed directly by the symbol |
A definition, or BNF "production." The symbol The word referred to elsewhere as the placeholder |
The following syntax tells you that a tuple is defined as either one member in parenthesis, or two or more comma-separated members in parenthesis. <tuple> ::= '(' <member> [,<member>]... ')' |
The pipe symbol or "OR" symbol. |
Precedes alternatives. The symbol | can be interpreted to mean "or." |
The following syntax: ON COLUMNS|ROWS|PAGES|CHAPTERS|SECTIONS can be used to build any of the following literal statement parts:
|
(Text in all caps.) |
A query-grammar keyword, to be typed literally. | When reading the following syntax,
you know that |
(Square brackets enclosing some word or item.) |
An optional element. | In the following high-level query syntax, [<with_section>] SELECT [<axis_specification> [, <axis_specification>...]] FROM [<cube_specification>] [WHERE [<slicer_specification>]] everything, technically, is optional except for SELECT and FROM. Therefore, a query containing only the words SELECT FROM would in fact be valid; however, it would select one consolidated data value from its best estimate of a cube context, which might not be very useful. |
|
You can optionally append a comma-separated list of one
or more <words> . |
The following syntax SELECT [<axis_specification> [, <axis_specification<...]] indicates that multiple, comma-separated axis specifications can optionally be supplied to the |
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