REPEAT statement

Applies to ❌ Open Source Edition ✅ Express Edition ✅ Professional Edition ✅ Enterprise Edition

WHILE's lesser known little sibling is REPEAT, which works the same way as Java's do statement. It is mostly not as useful as WHILE, but can be, occasionally, when a loop must be iterated at least once.

An example:

-- MySQL syntax
REPEAT
  INSERT INTO t (col) VALUES (i);
  SET i = i + 1;
UNTIL i > 10 END REPEAT;

// All dialects
Variable<Integer> i = var("i", INTEGER);
repeat(
  insertInto(T).columns(T.COL).values(i),
  i.set(i.plus(1))
).until(i.gt(10))

Dialect support

This example using jOOQ:

repeat(deleteFrom(BOOK).where(BOOK.ID.eq(i)), i.set(i.plus(1))).until(i.gt(10))

Translates to the following dialect specific expressions:

-- AURORA_POSTGRES
<<alias_2>>
LOOP
  DELETE FROM BOOK
  WHERE BOOK.ID = i;
  SET i = (i + 1);
  EXIT alias_2 WHEN i > 10;
END LOOP

-- BIGQUERY, DB2, HSQLDB, MARIADB, MYSQL
REPEAT
  DELETE FROM BOOK
  WHERE BOOK.ID = i;
  SET i = (i + 1);
UNTIL i > 10 END REPEAT

-- EXASOL
REPEAT
  DELETE FROM BOOK
  WHERE BOOK.ID = i;
  i := (i + 1);
UNTIL i > 10 END REPEAT

-- FIREBIRD
alias_2:
WHILE (1 = 1) DO BEGIN
  DELETE FROM BOOK
  WHERE BOOK.ID = :i;
  :i = (:i + 1);
  IF (:i > 10) THEN
    LEAVE alias_2;
END

-- H2
do {
  try (PreparedStatement s = c.prepareStatement(
    "DELETE FROM BOOK\n" +
    "WHERE BOOK.ID = ?"
  )) {
    s.setObject(1, i);
    s.execute();
  }
  i = (i + 1);
}
while (!(i > 10))

-- HANA
WHILE 1 = 1 DO
  DELETE FROM BOOK
  WHERE BOOK.ID = i;
  i = (i + 1);
  IF i > 10 THEN
    BREAK;
  END IF;
END WHILE

-- INFORMIX
<<alias_2>>
LOOP
  DELETE FROM BOOK
  WHERE BOOK.ID = i;
  LET i = (i + 1);
  EXIT alias_2 WHEN i > 10;
END LOOP

-- ORACLE, POSTGRES, YUGABYTEDB
<<alias_2>>
LOOP
  DELETE FROM BOOK
  WHERE BOOK.ID = i;
  i := (i + 1);
  EXIT alias_2 WHEN i > 10;
END LOOP

-- ACCESS, ASE, AURORA_MYSQL, COCKROACHDB, DERBY, MEMSQL, REDSHIFT, SNOWFLAKE, SQLDATAWAREHOUSE, SQLITE, SQLSERVER, SYBASE, 
-- TERADATA, VERTICA
/* UNSUPPORTED */

(These are currently generated with jOOQ 3.17, see #10141), or translate your own on our website

The jOOQ User Manual : SQL building : Procedural statements : REPEAT statement

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