# Aerospike Quick Look (AQL)

::: note
Correction (Oct 2025): An earlier communication incorrectly stated that AQL is deprecated. Development is suspended, however Aerospike will continue to provide patch releases to address security vulnerabilities.
:::

This page describes the features and benefits of Aerospike Quick Look (AQL). AQL is a command-line tool for browsing data and developing user-defined functions for Aerospike Database.

## Considerations for AQL

-   AQL commands, such as `SELECT`, and modifiers of commands, such as `WHERE`, aren’t case sensitive. Namespace names, bin names, and names of other objects are case-sensitive. Command syntax here shows uppercase, while many examples show lowercase.
-   Unlike SQL, AQL statements don’t have to terminate with a semicolon. Semicolons aren’t required.
-   Previously deprecated index management and access control were removed in Tools 8.0.1.
-   The `TRUNCATE` command is removed as of Database 7.0.0. Use the `asadm` [`manage truncate`](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/asadm/live-mode/#truncate) command instead.
-   `DIGEST` command to retrieve records is updated for tools version 3.5.11 and later.
-   Prior to Database 6.0.0, primary index (PI) queries were called scans and secondary index (SI) queries were called queries.
-   Starting with Tools 8.3.0, the AQL `select` command accepts a double where clause with two predicates. Starting with Tools 8.3.0, the AQL `select` command can limit the number of records displayed using the `limit` specifier. Starting with Tools 3.8.2, for GeoJSON, both equality and range predicates are supported by using `CONTAINS` and `WITHIN`.

## Related topics

-   [Run Aerospike Quick Look](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/aql/run-aql)
-   [Manage records](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/aql/records)
-   [Retrieve metadata details](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/aql/metadata)
-   [Manage user-defined functions](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/aql/udf)
-   [Configure Aerospike Quick Look settings](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/aql/settings)
-   [User-Defined Functions (UDF) Development Guide](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/advanced/udf)