This document provides simple and easy-to-follow examples for using chdb-rust, a Rust wrapper for chDB (embedded ClickHouse).
- Basic Setup
- Stateless Queries
- Stateful Sessions
- Working with Query Results
- Output Formats
- Reading from Files
- Error Handling
First, add chdb-rust to your Cargo.toml:
[dependencies]
chdb-rust = "1.0.0"Make sure you have libchdb installed on your system. See the main README for installation instructions.
For one-off queries that don't require persistent storage, use the execute function:
use chdb_rust::execute;
use chdb_rust::arg::Arg;
use chdb_rust::format::OutputFormat;
fn main() -> Result<(), chdb_rust::error::Error> {
// Simple query with default format (TabSeparated)
let result = execute("SELECT 1 + 1 AS sum", None)?;
println!("Result: {}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
// Query with JSON output format
let result = execute(
"SELECT 'Hello' AS greeting, 42 AS answer",
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::JSONEachRow)])
)?;
println!("JSON Result: {}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
Ok(())
}For queries that need persistent storage (creating tables, inserting data, etc.), use a Session:
use chdb_rust::session::SessionBuilder;
use chdb_rust::arg::Arg;
use chdb_rust::format::OutputFormat;
use std::path::PathBuf;
fn main() -> Result<(), chdb_rust::error::Error> {
// Create a session with a temporary directory
let tmp_dir = std::env::temp_dir().join("chdb-example");
let session = SessionBuilder::new()
.with_data_path(tmp_dir)
.with_auto_cleanup(true) // Automatically delete data on drop
.build()?;
// Create a database
session.execute(
"CREATE DATABASE mydb; USE mydb",
Some(&[Arg::MultiQuery])
)?;
// Create a table
session.execute(
"CREATE TABLE users (id UInt64, name String, age UInt8) \
ENGINE = MergeTree() ORDER BY id",
None
)?;
// Insert data
session.execute(
"INSERT INTO users (id, name, age) VALUES (1, 'Alice', 30), (2, 'Bob', 25)",
None
)?;
// Query data
let result = session.execute(
"SELECT * FROM users",
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::JSONEachRow)])
)?;
println!("Users: {}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
Ok(())
}The QueryResult type provides several methods to access query results:
use chdb_rust::execute;
use chdb_rust::arg::Arg;
use chdb_rust::format::OutputFormat;
fn main() -> Result<(), chdb_rust::error::Error> {
let result = execute(
"SELECT number, number * 2 AS doubled FROM numbers(5)",
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::JSONEachRow)])
)?;
// Get result as UTF-8 string (returns error if invalid UTF-8)
match result.data_utf8() {
Ok(data) => println!("UTF-8: {}", data),
Err(e) => eprintln!("Error: {}", e),
}
// Get result as UTF-8 string (lossy conversion for invalid UTF-8)
println!("Lossy UTF-8: {}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
// Get raw bytes
let bytes = result.data_ref();
println!("Bytes length: {}", bytes.len());
// Get query statistics
println!("Rows read: {}", result.rows_read());
println!("Bytes read: {}", result.bytes_read());
println!("Elapsed time: {:?}", result.elapsed());
Ok(())
}chdb-rust supports many output formats. Here are some common ones:
use chdb_rust::execute;
use chdb_rust::arg::Arg;
use chdb_rust::format::OutputFormat;
fn main() -> Result<(), chdb_rust::error::Error> {
let query = "SELECT 1 AS a, 'test' AS b";
// JSONEachRow - one JSON object per line
let result = execute(
query,
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::JSONEachRow)])
)?;
println!("JSONEachRow:\n{}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
// CSV with column names
let result = execute(
query,
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::CSVWithNames)])
)?;
println!("CSV:\n{}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
// Pretty format (human-readable table)
let result = execute(
query,
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::Pretty)])
)?;
println!("Pretty:\n{}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
// TabSeparated (default)
let result = execute(query, None)?;
println!("TabSeparated:\n{}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
Ok(())
}You can query data directly from files using ClickHouse's file() function:
use chdb_rust::execute;
use chdb_rust::arg::Arg;
use chdb_rust::format::{InputFormat, OutputFormat};
fn main() -> Result<(), chdb_rust::error::Error> {
// Read from a CSV file
let query = format!(
"SELECT * FROM file('data.csv', {})",
InputFormat::CSV.as_str()
);
let result = execute(
&query,
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::JSONEachRow)])
)?;
println!("CSV data:\n{}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
// Read from a JSON file
let query = format!(
"SELECT * FROM file('data.json', {})",
InputFormat::JSONEachRow.as_str()
);
let result = execute(
&query,
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::Pretty)])
)?;
println!("JSON data:\n{}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
Ok(())
}Always handle errors properly:
use chdb_rust::execute;
use chdb_rust::arg::Arg;
use chdb_rust::format::OutputFormat;
use chdb_rust::error::Error;
fn main() {
match execute(
"SELECT * FROM nonexistent_table",
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::JSONEachRow)])
) {
Ok(result) => {
println!("Success: {}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
}
Err(Error::QueryError(msg)) => {
eprintln!("Query error: {}", msg);
}
Err(Error::ConnectionFailed) => {
eprintln!("Failed to connect to database");
}
Err(e) => {
eprintln!("Other error: {}", e);
}
}
}Here's a complete example that demonstrates a typical use case:
use chdb_rust::session::SessionBuilder;
use chdb_rust::arg::Arg;
use chdb_rust::format::OutputFormat;
fn main() -> Result<(), chdb_rust::error::Error> {
// Create session
let tmp_dir = std::env::temp_dir().join("chdb-analytics");
let session = SessionBuilder::new()
.with_data_path(tmp_dir)
.with_auto_cleanup(true)
.build()?;
// Create database and table
session.execute(
"CREATE DATABASE analytics; USE analytics",
Some(&[Arg::MultiQuery])
)?;
session.execute(
"CREATE TABLE events (
id UInt64,
event_type String,
timestamp DateTime,
value Float64
) ENGINE = MergeTree() ORDER BY timestamp",
None
)?;
// Insert sample events
session.execute(
"INSERT INTO events VALUES
(1, 'page_view', '2024-01-01 10:00:00', 1.0),
(2, 'click', '2024-01-01 10:05:00', 2.5),
(3, 'page_view', '2024-01-01 10:10:00', 1.0),
(4, 'purchase', '2024-01-01 10:15:00', 99.99),
(5, 'page_view', '2024-01-01 10:20:00', 1.0)",
None
)?;
// Aggregate query
let result = session.execute(
"SELECT
event_type,
COUNT(*) AS count,
SUM(value) AS total_value,
AVG(value) AS avg_value
FROM events
GROUP BY event_type
ORDER BY count DESC",
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::Pretty)])
)?;
println!("Event Statistics:\n{}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
// Time-based query
let result = session.execute(
"SELECT
toStartOfHour(timestamp) AS hour,
COUNT(*) AS events_per_hour
FROM events
GROUP BY hour
ORDER BY hour",
Some(&[Arg::OutputFormat(OutputFormat::JSONEachRow)])
)?;
println!("\nHourly Events:\n{}", result.data_utf8_lossy());
Ok(())
}- For more information about chDB, visit: https://github.com/chdb-io/chdb
- For ClickHouse SQL reference: https://clickhouse.com/docs/en/sql-reference/
- Check the
tests/examples.rsfile in this repository for more examples