sqlfmt▍
Category
SQL formatting best practices, style guides, and conventions for readable queries.
11 posts
By Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jul 13, 2026
Multi-row INSERT alignment, UPDATE SET clause style, DELETE WHERE formatting, and ON CONFLICT/MERGE upsert syntax across five SQL dialects, with examples.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jul 13, 2026
Formatting SQL stored procedures means aligning parameters, indenting BEGIN/END blocks, and handling PL/pgSQL, T-SQL, and MySQL control flow correctly.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jul 13, 2026
UNION and UNION ALL combine query results, but mismatched columns fail silently, not loudly. Here's how to align, parenthesize, and order them for readable SQL.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jun 25, 2026
CTE vs subquery comes down to readability, reuse, and recursion. Here's when each one wins, plus the PostgreSQL optimization-fence gotcha you should know.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jun 25, 2026
Window functions cram PARTITION BY, ORDER BY, and frames into one OVER clause. Here's how to format SQL window functions so the logic reads at a glance.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jun 21, 2026
SQL CTEs turn into a wall of text fast. Here's how to format WITH clauses, multi-CTE chains, and recursive CTEs so the structure reads at a glance.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jun 15, 2026
Multi-join queries turn into walls of text fast. Here's how to format JOINs, ON conditions, and join chains so the query structure reads at a glance.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jun 15, 2026
SQL CASE statements get messy fast. Here's how to format simple, multi-branch, and nested CASE WHEN expressions to stay readable as logic grows.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jun 14, 2026
Eight SQL formatting best practices — keyword casing, comma style, explicit JOINs, CTE usage, and keyword typo checking — with before-and-after examples.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jun 14, 2026
Leading comma style in SQL places commas before each column, not after. Here's the case for and against it, and how to enforce it consistently.
Read postBy Sharon Ben-Moshe · Jun 14, 2026
Should SQL keywords be uppercase or lowercase? We compare major style guides, tool defaults, and team conventions to give you a clear, defensible answer.
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