---
metadata:
  - name: generator
    content: Diplodoc Platform v5.52.0
alternate:
  - https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/en/dev/streaming-query/table-writing.md
  - https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/ru/dev/streaming-query/table-writing.md
  - href: en/dev/streaming-query/table-writing.md
    type: text/markdown
    title: Markdown version
  - href: ../../llms.txt
    type: text/markdown
    title: llms.txt
sourcePath: en/core/dev/streaming-query/table-writing.md
---
> **Documentation Index:** Fetch the complete configuration index at https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/en/llms.txt

# Writing to tables

Writing to tables lets you save the results of a streaming query for later analysis with regular SQL queries. For example, you can aggregate events from a stream and save the results to a table.

For writing, [UPSERT INTO](https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/en/yql/reference/syntax/upsert_into.md) is used — inserting a new row or updating an existing one by primary key. The UPSERT operation is idempotent by primary key: rewriting the same row results in an update, not duplication. This is important because streaming queries provide the [at-least-once](https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/en/concepts/streaming-query/streaming-query.md#guarantees) guarantee — when recovering from a [checkpoint](https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/en/dev/streaming-query/checkpoints.md), some events may be processed again.

{% note alert %}

Not supported:

- [INSERT INTO](https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/en/yql/reference/syntax/insert_into.md) — use UPSERT INTO instead. `INSERT INTO` would duplicate rows on retries under at-least-once delivery.
- Writing to YDB tables in **external** databases. Currently only local tables can be written to.

{% endnote %}

## Example

The query reads events from a topic and writes them to `output_table`. `Ts` is cast from string to `Timestamp`, and [Unwrap](https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/en/yql/reference/builtins/basic.md#unwrap) removes optionality.


```sql
CREATE STREAMING QUERY query_with_table_write AS
DO BEGIN

-- Reading from a topic and writing to a table
UPSERT INTO
    output_table
SELECT
    -- Converting a string to Timestamp
    Unwrap(CAST(Ts AS Timestamp)) AS Ts,
    Country,
    Count
FROM
    -- Read events from topic
    ydb_source.input_topic
WITH (
    -- Data format in a topic
    FORMAT = json_each_row,
    -- Data schema
    SCHEMA = (
        Ts String NOT NULL,
        Count Uint64 NOT NULL,
        Country Utf8 NOT NULL
    )
);

END DO
```


## Limitations

In a single streaming query:

- You cannot use the same table for [stream enrichment](https://ydb-platform--ydb.viewer.diplodoc.com/en/dev/streaming-query/enrichment.md) using `JOIN` and for writing the query result.
- You cannot write to the same table multiple times.