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SQL & Persistence

TabDat integrates DuckDB SQL directly into the interactive session and script workflows, providing an escape hatch for ad-hoc queries, joins, and window functions.

The sql Command

The active dataset is exposed to SQL queries under the table name active:

tabdat> sql select sex, avg(bmi) as avg_bmi from active group by sex
sex  avg_bmi
F    24.8
M    26.2

Creating Named Tables with into <table>

You can direct the output of any SQL query into a session-local named table:

tabdat> sql select age, avg(income) as mean_income from active group by age order by age into age_summary
Created age_summary: 45 rows, 2 columns

This creates age_summary in memory and makes it the active dataset. You can return to it later via use age_summary.

Persistence: save and export

To persist the active dataset to disk as a standard Apache Parquet file, use save or export:

tabdat> save cleaned_cohort.parquet
Saved: cleaned_cohort.parquet (15000 rows, 12 columns)

Overwrite Protection

If the destination file already exists, TabDat prevents accidental overwrites unless you explicitly supply , replace:

tabdat> save cleaned_cohort.parquet, replace
Overwritten: cleaned_cohort.parquet (15000 rows, 12 columns)