Confusion about the term ad-hoc query

Question

I have been reading about the term ad-hoc query and I'm quite confused about it, in particular about how they are executed. While reading a thread (What is Ad Hoc Query?), they mentioned that ad-hoc queries are written "on the fly". Does this mean that for a query to be ad-hoc it has to be written at the moment, like in a CLI or a DBMS? What about a query that I just wrote in a script for a specific purpose, is it still considered to be ad-hoc even though it is part of a script?

Thanks

Any query with a variable is an Ad-Hoc query. Ensure it is sanitized to prevent Injection attack. — david strachan, Feb 22 '15 at 13:55

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 22 '15 at 23:33

A "production" system has a lot of "canned queries". Such queries rarely change -- usually only when you "release" a new "version" of the "product".

An "Ad Hoc query" is a SELECT that you make up to look for something for which the canned queries don't help. It often comes from management asking something like "How many foobars happened last week?"

You will run that query once (or until you get the desired output), then toss it. Or you might develop it into a "canned query" for the "production" system, at which point it should no longer be called "ad hoc".

Thanks for the answer. It cleared things a little bit. – user3276768 Feb 25 '15 at 13:29 — user3276768, Feb 25 '15 at 13:29

Confusion about the term ad-hoc query

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