SQL syntax

SQL syntax is presented in modified BNF notation. The meta-symbols of BNF are:

Symbol	Meaning
`\|`	???or.??? Choose one of the items
`[ ]`	Enclose optional items.
`*`	Flags items that you can repeat 0 or more times. Has a special meaning in some SQL statements.
`{ }`	Groups items so that they can be marked with one of the other symbols, i.e. [ ], \|, or *.
`( ) . ,`	Other punctuation that is part of the syntax.

An example of how SQL syntax is presented:

CREATE [ UNIQUE ] INDEX IndexName
  ON TableName ( SimpleColumnName [ , SimpleColumnName ] * )

Command-line syntax for running Java programs and utilities (as well as examples) always begins with the word java:

java org.apache.derby.tools.ij

In addition, this documentation uses the IBM Software Development Kit style for setting JVM arguments and properties. If you use another Java Virtual Machine, the way you set JVM arguments and properties might be different.