[BUG] JSQLParser 5.1: PostgreSQL: fail to parse dollar-quoted string constants with tags

The parser fails to parse dollar-quoted string constants with tags (see https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-syntax-lexical.html#SQL-SYNTAX-DOLLAR-QUOTING)
SQL example:

select
$json$
[
{"some":"json","with":"properties"},
{"other":"json","with":"properties"}
]
$json$::jsonb

The error I get:

net.sf.jsqlparser.parser.ParseException: Encountered unexpected token: "::" "::"
    at line 7, column 7.

Was expecting one of:

    <EOF>
    <ST_SEMICOLON>

However, replacing dollar-quotes $json$ with single quotes ' or removing the tag (to leave only double dollar $$) works.

Software Information:

JSqlParser 5.1
PostgreSQL

Additional information

It used to be supported in JSQLParser 4.5
Connected issue in DBeaver dbeaver/dbeaver#37028

@E1izabeth

@E1izabeth: thank you for reporting, I will look into this asap.

Greetings.

"Dollar quoting" is actually supported and the following works:

select
$$
[
{"some":"json","with":"properties"},
{"other":"json","with":"properties"}
]
$$::jsonb

What is missing is the support for the "optional tag" and I do wonder if this ever has worked (not arguing though).

So I will have to look for a solution to extend this token.

Thanks

@E1izabeth

@E1izabeth: I dived deep into this issue and unfortunately I can not offer much hope here:

I am quite sure, that this was never supported before. It just failed faster when not even "Dollar quotes w/o Tags" were supported
while I can offer some remedy for parsing "Dollar quotes w/ Tags" it will never work perfectly because of white space:

-- this works
select $tag$this is a test $tag$

-- this works but alters the content
select $tag$this 
is 
a 
test 
$tag$

So the statement will be parsed and return the correct AST. But content of the String Value can't be guaranteed.
Unfortunately there is nothing I can do, because JavaCC mangles the white spaces and returns only token streams.

This gets us back to item 1) It never worked but failed faster.
It looks to me like you are not calling the parser supervised (obeying the timeout) and I would like to encourage you again to look into this. We will always have some Freezing Statements and the supervised execution terminates those reliably and efficiently without disturbing the user experience.

Best and cheers!

@manticore-projects

@manticore-projects thank you so much for your effort and responsiveness

I am still fighting to get this white space right ...

How cool is this one:

    @Test
    void testDollarQuotedText() throws JSQLParserException {
        String sqlStr = "SELECT $tag$This\nis\na\ntest\n$tag$ from dual where a=b";
        PlainSelect st = (PlainSelect) CCJSqlParserUtil.parse(sqlStr);

        StringValue stringValue = st.getSelectItem(0).getExpression(StringValue.class);

        Assertions.assertEquals("This\nis\na\ntest\n", stringValue.getValue());
    }

Now, unfortunately I am battling with some collisions with other valid syntax, mainly $parameter. But I am confident getting this solved somehow soon.

@E1izabeth

@E1izabeth:

Unfortunately I have only bad news:

$tag$this is a test$tag$ collides with (currently) allowed identifiers $tag$this (because we allow identifiers to start with and contain a $)
the solution would be to tighten identifiers so they either start with a $ (and then don't contain any following $) or they contain a $ only when they don't start with a $
though adding such an additional rule breaks the JavaCC7 parser generator: error: code too large for try statement

We are using too many tokens and are pretty much at the end of JavaCC 7 here and I will have to test/decide if switching to JavaCC 8 or CongoCC can solve this challenge. That would be a "next version" though, after releasing the current JSQLParser 5.2.

So what are our possible instant options here:

a) this has never worked before, but just failed instantly while now it hangs (based on support of $$...$$ blocks)

--> I can help you by showing how to run JSQLParser supervised so it will fail within definable timeout.

This should be done anyway since also other complex statements can freeze.

b) or I can provide a DBeaver branch temporarily, where we switch off identifiers containing $ (which is not SQL:2016 complaint)

If you have any better idea, please do let me know.
Best and cheers!

I see. Thank you.
For option a), you're proposing to add .withTimeOut(..) parameter for the parser, right?
We have configured this way right now:

        CCJSqlParser parser = new CCJSqlParser(new StringProvider(sqlWithoutComments));
        parser.withAllowComplexParsing(false);
        if (...) {
            parser.withSquareBracketQuotation(true);
        }

For option b), I have to discuss it with a team.

On 1)

ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();

final CCJSqlParser parser = new CCJSqlParser(sqlStr)
                    .withSquareBracketQuotation(false)
                    .withAllowComplexParsing(true)
                    .withBackslashEscapeCharacter(false);

Future<Statements> future = executorService.submit(new Callable<Statements>() {
    @Override
    public Statements call() throws ParseException {
        return parser.Statements();
    }
});

try {
    future.get(6000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
    long endMillis = System.currentTimeMillis();

    System.out.println("Time to parse [ms]: " + (endMillis - startMillis) / i);
} catch (TimeoutException | InterruptedException ex2) {
    parser.interrupted = true;
    future.cancel(true);
    throw new JSQLParserException("Failed to within reasonable time ", ex2);
}

Or simply:

CCJSqlParserUtil.parse(String sql, ExecutorService executorService, Consumer<CCJSqlParser> consumer);

Thank you! We'll modify according to your suggestions.

@E1izabeth

Greetings @E1izabeth

I have started a JavaCC 8 based development branch and I can confirm that JavaCC 8 lift the restrictions on defining tokens and allows us to expand the grammar.

This will allow us to incorporate the Dollar-quoted tags above, tests have been positive.

Unfortunately, some of the Token internals have changed and right now rewriting of Tokens (used for T-SQL bracket-quoting and advanced escaping) does not work.

So all of this will need extra work and will take some time, but I won't give up on it.

@manticore-projects

Hi, @manticore-projects!
Thanks for the update.

- b) or I can provide a DBeaver branch temporarily, where we switch off identifiers containing $ (which is not SQL:2016 complaint)
- For option b), I have to discuss it with a team.

It would be great if you could provide us with any branch or snapshot when it becomes possible.

Sure, I am down to 54 failing tests out of 2,900 tests in total.
I am eliminating some of the exotic stuff as we speak and then will provide you with a drop-in replacement asap.

JavaCC 8 based branch: https://github.com/JSQLParser/JSqlParser/tree/javacc8

Thanks

Thanks

DBeaver licenses are welcome :-)

@E1izabeth

@E1izabeth Compliments!

I have fixed a massive performance regression in released JSQLParser-5.2 and have added proper JHM benchmarks for avoiding just mischief in the future.

Please see https://github.com/JSQLParser/JSqlParser#performance

You can use JSQLParser-5.3 Snapshot as a drop-in hotfix. It does not change anything except performance and is fully compatible.

I will work in parallel on releasing a hotfix asap but its NOT in my control.

Any questions or concerns, please just ask.

Thank you!

@manticore-projects

Hello @manticore-projects! We appreciate your support and want to offer you a compliment. Please write to anna.pozdeeva@dbeaver.com and provide your nickname in GitHub.

"Dollar quoting" is actually supported and the following works:

select
$$
[
{"some":"json","with":"properties"},
{"other":"json","with":"properties"}
]
$$::jsonb

Indeed it does, at least from DBeaver, but this (note additional dollar sign):

select
$json$
[
{"some":"json","with":"properties$"},
{"other":"json","with":"properties"}
]
$json$::jsonb

...does not - upon clicking on the count rows icon in DBeaver, I'm getting "Can't count rows for non-SELECT queries", which seems to indicate a parsing failure.

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[BUG] JSQLParser 5.1: PostgreSQL: fail to parse dollar-quoted string constants with tags #2233

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[BUG] JSQLParser 5.1: PostgreSQL: fail to parse dollar-quoted string constants with tags #2233

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manticore-projects commented on Apr 29, 2025

manticore-projects commented on May 1, 2025

E1izabeth commented on May 1, 2025

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E1izabeth commented on May 1, 2025

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E1izabeth commented on May 2, 2025

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E1izabeth commented on May 5, 2025

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E1izabeth commented on May 5, 2025

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E1izabeth commented on May 13, 2025

arhayka commented on Jun 11, 2025

brankoradovanovic-mcom commented on Sep 4, 2026

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