Work Item Query Language in EBNF
EBNF stands for Extended Backus Naur Form. EBNF is meta language constructed to describe the syntax of languages in a compact and unambiguous way. The grammar for Work Item Query Language (WIQL) is described here using EBNF.
This information is for those already familiar with EBNF. If you are not familiar with EBNF, you can see another description of WIQL in Syntax for the Work Item Query Language.
EBNF for WIQL
<select> ::= select <field list>
from workitems
[ where <expression> ]
[ order by <order by field list> ]
[ asof <datetime> ]
<expression> ::= <expression4>
<expression4> ::= <expression3> [ or <expression4> ]
<expression3> ::= <expression2> [ and <expression3> ]
<expression2> ::= {[ not | ever ] <expression2> }
| <expression1>
<expression1> ::= <conditional expression>
<conditional expression> ::= { '(' <expression> ')' } | <field reference name> <conditional operator> <value> | <field reference name> [not] in '(' <value list> ')'
<value> ::= <number>
| <string>
| <datetime>
<value list> ::= <value> [ ',' <value list> ]
<conditional operator> ::= { '=' | '<>' | '<' | '<=' | '>' | '>=' }
| { [ever] [not] { like | under }}
<field list> ::= <field name> [ ',' <field list> ]
<order by field list> ::= <field name> [ asc | desc ] [ ',' <order by field list> ]
<number> ::= [ '-' ] <digit>* [ '.' [ <digit>* ]] [ { e | E } [ '-' ] <digit>* ]
<string> ::= { ''' { <anychar except '''> | '''' }* ''' }
| { '"' { <anychar except '"'> | '""' }* '"' }
<datetime> ::= <string> Insert section body here.