Explore data using InfluxQL

To start exploring data with InfluxQL, do the following:

1. Verify your bucket has a database and retention policy (DBRP) mapping by listing DBRP mappings for your bucket. If not, create a new DBRP mapping.

2. Configure timestamps in the InfluxQL shell.

3. (Optional) If you would like to use the data used in the examples below, download the NOAA sample data.

4. Use the InfluxQL SELECT statement with other key clauses to explore your data.

• SELECT statement
• WHERE clause
• GROUP BY clause
• ORDER BY clause
• LIMIT and SLIMIT clauses
• OFFSET and SOFFSET clauses
• Time and timezone queries
• Subqueries
• Regular expressions

SELECT <field_key>[,<field_key>,<tag_key>] FROM <measurement_name>[,<measurement_name>]

SELECT_clause FROM_clause WHERE <conditional_expression> [(AND|OR) <conditional_expression> [...]]

SELECT_clause FROM_clause [WHERE_clause] GROUP BY [* | <tag_key>[,<tag_key]]

SELECT_clause FROM_clause [WHERE_clause] [GROUP_BY_clause] ORDER BY time DESC

SELECT_clause FROM_clause [WHERE_clause] [GROUP_BY_clause] [ORDER_BY_clause] LIMIT <N>

SELECT_clause FROM_clause [WHERE_clause] [GROUP_BY_clause] [ORDER_BY_clause] LIMIT_clause OFFSET <N> [SLIMIT_clause]

SELECT_clause FROM_clause [WHERE_clause] [GROUP_BY_clause] [ORDER_BY_clause] [LIMIT_clause] [OFFSET_clause] [SLIMIT_clause] [SOFFSET_clause] tz('<time_zone>')

SELECT_clause FROM ( SELECT_statement ) [...]

SELECT /<regular_expression_field_key>/ FROM /<regular_expression_measurement>/ WHERE [<tag_key> <operator> /<regular_expression_tag_value>/ | <field_key> <operator> /<regular_expression_field_value>/] GROUP BY /<regular_expression_tag_key>/

Download sample data

The example InfluxQL queries in this documentation use publicly available National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data.

To download a subset of NOAA data used in examples, run the script under NOAA water sample data (for example, copy and paste the script into your Data Explorer - Script Editor), and replace “example-org” in the script with the name of your InfluxDB organization.

Let’s get acquainted with this subsample of the data in the h2o_feet measurement:

Output:

The data in the h2o_feet measurement occurs at six-minute time intervals. This measurement has one tag key (location) which has two tag values: coyote_creek and santa_monica. The measurement also has two fields: level description stores string field values and water_level stores float field values.

Configure timestamps in the InfluxQL shell

By default, the InfluxQL shell returns timestamps in nanosecond UNIX epoch format by default. To return human-readable RFC3339 timestamps instead of Unix nanosecond timestamps, use the precision helper command ` to configure the timestamp format:

precision rfc3339

The InfluxDB API returns timestamps in RFC3339 format by default. Specify alternative formats with the epoch query string parameter.