You can define variables within SQL Workbench/J that can be referenced in your SQL statements. This is done through the internal command WbVarDef.

WbVarDef myvar=42 defines a variable with the name myvar and the value 42. If the variable does not exist, it will be created. If it exists its value will be overwriliteralen with the new value. To remove a variable simply set its value to nothing: WbVarDef myvar=. Alternatevily you can use the command WbVarDelete myvar to remove a variable definition.

Variable substitution is also done within Macros. If your macro definition contains a reference to a SQL Workbench/J variable, this will be treated the same way as in regular statements.

The definition of variables can also be read from a properties file. This can be done by specifying -file=filename for the WbVarDef command, or by passing the -vardef parameter when starting SQL Workbench/J. Please see the description for the command line parameters for details.

WbVarDef -file=/temp/myvars.def

This file has to be a standard Java "properties" file. Each variable is listed on a single line in the format variable=value. Lines starting with a # character are ignored (comments). Assuming the file myvars.def had the following content:

#Define the ID that we need later
var_id=42
person_name=Dent
another_variable=24

After executing WbVarDef -file=/temp/myvars.def there would be three variables available in the system: var_id, person_name, another_variable, that could be used e.g. in a SELECT query:

SELECT * FROM person where name='$[person_name]' or id=$[var_id];

SQL Workbench/J would expand the variables and send the following statement to the server:

SELECT * FROM person where name='Dent' or id=42;

A variable can also be defined as the result of a SELECT statement. This indicated by using @ as the first character after the equal sign. The SELECT needs to be enclosed in double quotes, if you are using single quotes e.g. in the where clause:

WbVarDef myvar=@"SELECT id FROM person WHERE name='Dent'"

If the SELECT returns more than one column, multiple variables can be defined by specifying a comma separated list of variable names. The following statement will define the variables id and name based on the values returned from the SELECT statement:

WbVarDef id,name=@"SELECT id,firstname FROM person WHERE lastname='Dent'"

When executing the statement, SQL Workbench/J only retrieves the first row of the result set. Subsequent rows are ignored. If the select returns more columns than variable names, the additional values are ignored. If more variables are listed than columns are present in the result set, the additional variables will be undefined.

A variable can also be defined by reading the content of a file (this is different from reading the variable definition from a file).

WbVarDef -variable=somevar -contentFile=/temp/mydata.txt

When executing the statement, SQL Workbench/J will read the content of the file mydata.txt and use that as the value for the variable somevar.

If the file contents contains references to variables, these are replaced after the content as been loaded. To disable replacement, use the parameter -replaceVars=false.

Consider the following sequence of statements, where the file select.txt contains the statement SELECT * FROM person WHERE id = $[person_id]

WbVarDef person_id=42;
WbVarDef -variable=my_select -contentFile=select.txt;
$[my_select];

After running the above script, the variable my_select, will have the value of SELECT * FROM person WHERE id = 42. When "running" $[my_select], the row with id=42 will be retrieved.

To view a list of currently defined variables execute the command WbVarList. This will display a list of currently defined variables and their values. You can edit the resulting list similar to editing the result of a SELECT statement. You can add new variables by adding a row to the result, remove existing variables by deleting rows from the result, or edit the value of a variable. If you change the name of a variable, this is the same as removing the old, and creating a new one.

The defined variables can be used by enclosing them in special characters inside the SQL statement. The default is set to $[ and ], you can use a variable this way:

SELECT firstname, lastname FROM person WHERE id=$[id_variable];

If you have a variable with the name id_variable defined, the sequence $[id_variable] will be replaced with the current value of the variable.

Variables will be replaced after replacing macro parameters.

If the SQL statement requires quotes for the SQL literal, you can either put the quotes into the value of the variable (e.g. WbVarDef name="'Arthur'") or you put the quotes around the variable's placeholder, e.g.: WHERE name='$[name]';

	Variables will be replaced in string literals (e.g. '$[foo]') and comments (e.g. -- $[foo] or /* $[foo] */)

If you are using values in your regular statements that actually need the prefix ($[ or suffix ]) characters, please make sure that you have no variables defined. Otherwise you will unpredictable results. If you want to use variables but need to use the default prefix for marking variables in your statements, you can configure a different prefix and suffix for flagging variables. To change the the prefix e.g. to %# and the suffix (i.e end of the variable name) to #, add the following lines to your workbench.settings file:

workbench.sql.parameter.prefix=%#
workbench.sql.parameter.suffix=#

You may leave the suffix empty, but the prefix definition may not be empty.

You can also use variables in a way that SQL Workbench/J will prompt you during execution of a SQL statement that contains a variable.

If you want to be prompted for a value, simply reference the value with a quotation mark in front of its name:

SELECT id FROM person WHERE name like '$[?search_name]%'

If you execute this statement, SQL Workbench/J will prompt you for the value of the variable search_name. If the variable is already defined you will see the current value of the variable. If the variable is not yet defined it will be implicitly defined with an empty value.

If you use a variable more then once in your statement it is sufficient to define it once as a prompt variable. Prompting for a variable value is especially useful inside a macro definition.

You can also define a conditional prompt with using an ampersand instead of a quotation mark. In this case you will only be prompted if no value is assigned for the variable:

SELECT id FROM person WHERE name like '$[&search_name]%'

The first time you execute this statement (and no value has been assigned to search_name before using WBVARDEF or on the command line) you will be prompted for a value for search_name. Any subsequent execution of the statement (or any other statement referencing $[&search_name]) will re-use the value you entered.

When defining a variable, you can specify a list of values that should be entered in the dialog.

WbVardef -variable=status -values='active,pending,closed';

By default the variables shown in the prompt dialog are sorted alphabetically. This behavior can be changed by setting the configuration property workbench.sql.parameter.prompt.sort to true, e.g. using WbSetConfig

WbSetConfig workbench.sql.parameter.prompt.sort=false

If the property is set to false, the variables are shown in the order they were declared:

WbVarDef zzz='';
WbVarDef vvv='';
WbVarDef aaa='';

select *
from foobar
where col1 = $[?aaa]
  and col2 = $[?vvv]
  and col3 > $[?zzz]

The dialog to enter the variables will show them in the order zzz, vvv, aaa