From

from

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
from	string | Expression	true	​	The name of the table or a Expression object from which the query is based.

Used to set the base table for the query.

QueryBuilder

query.from( "users" );

MySQL

SELECT * FROM `users`

You can optionally specify an alias for the table.

QueryBuilder

query.from( "users as u" );

MySQL

SELECT * FROM `users` AS `u`

table

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
table	string | Expression	true	​	The name of the table or a Expression object from which the query is based.

An alias for from where you like how calling table looks.

QueryBuilder

query.table( "users" ).insert( { "name" = "jon" } );

MySQL

INSERT INTO `users` (`name`) VALUES (?)

fromRaw

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
from	string	true	​	The sql snippet to use as the table.
bindings	array	false	[]	Any bindings needed for the expression.

Sometimes you need more control over your from clause in order to add grammar specific instructions, such as adding SQL Server table hints to your queries.

QueryBuilder

query.fromRaw( "[users] u (nolock)" ).get();

SQL Server

SELECT * FROM [users] u (nolock) 

Since the fromRaw() takes your string verbatim, it's important that you make sure your SQL declaration is escaped properly. Failure to properly escape your table names may result in SQL errors.

Using fromRaw will most likely tie your code to a specific database, so think carefully before using the fromRaw method if you want your project to be database agnostic.

Many database engines allow you to define User Defined Functions. For example, SQL Server allows you to define UDFs that will return a table. In these type of cases, it may be necessary to bind parameters to your from clause.

You can bind parameters to the fromRaw() method by passing a secondary argument that is an array of the parameters to bind.

QueryBuilder

query.fromRaw(
    "dbo.generateDateTable(?, ?, ?) as dt",
    [ "2017-01-01", "2017-12-31", "m" ]
).get();

SQL Server

SELECT * FROM dbo.generateDateTable(?, ?, ?) as dt

fromSub

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
alias	string	true	​	The alias for the derived table.
input	Function | QueryBuilder	true		Either a QueryBuilder instance or a closure to define the derived query.

Complex queries often contain derived tables. Derived tables are essentially a temporal table defined as a subquery in the from statement.

QueryBuilder

query.select( [ "firstName", "lastName" ] )
    .fromSub( "legalUsers", function ( q ) {
        q.select( [ "lName as lastName", "fName as firstName" ] )
            .from( "users" )
            .where( "age", ">=", 21 )
        ;
    } )
    .orderBy( "lastName" )
    .get()

MySQL

SELECT `firstName`, `lastName`
FROM (
    SELECT `lName` as `lastName`, `fName` as `firstName`
    FROM `users`
    WHERE `age` >= 21
) AS `legalUsers`
ORDER BY `lastName`

In additional a function callback, a separate QueryBuilder instance can be passed to the fromSub method.

QueryBuilder

var legalUsersQuery = query
    .select( [ "lName as lastName", "fName as firstName" ] )
    .from( "users" )
    .where( "age", ">=", 21 );

query.select( [ "firstName", "lastName" ] )
    .fromSub( "legalUsers", legalUsersQuery )
    .orderBy( "lastName" )
    .get();

MySQL

SELECT `firstName`, `lastName`
FROM (
    SELECT `lName` as `lastName`, `fName` as `firstName`
    FROM `users`
    WHERE `age` >= 21
) AS `legalUsers`
ORDER BY `lastName`