DDL

Technology & Computing abbreviation · Data & Database

DDL
Stands forData definition language
CategoriesTechnology & Computing

DDL stands for Data definition language, a data & database abbreviation.

The subset of SQL that defines and changes database structure, with statements such as CREATE TABLE, ALTER TABLE, DROP and CREATE INDEX. Schema migrations consist mostly of DDL.

Example: Run the DDL in a maintenance window; ALTER TABLE will lock the orders table.

Usage notes

SQL is commonly divided into DDL, DML (data manipulation), DCL (data control, such as GRANT) and TCL (transaction control, such as COMMIT). PostgreSQL can run DDL inside transactions so failed migrations roll back cleanly, while MySQL commits most DDL statements implicitly.

More data & database abbreviations

  • DAG – Directed acyclic graph
  • DAX – Data Analysis Expressions
  • DB – Database
  • DBA – Database administrator
  • DBMS – Database management system
  • dbt – data build tool
  • DML – Data manipulation language
  • DS – Data science
  • DWH – Data warehouse
  • EDA – Exploratory data analysis
  • EDW – Enterprise data warehouse
  • ELK – Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana

See all 53 data & database abbreviations →

Edited by the AbbreviationList.com team. Spotted an error or a missing meaning? Contact us.