MQL Cheat Sheet

Preamble

For topographic queries, you must prefix the query with this magic incantation:

SELECT ALL OBJECTS
WHERE
// Your query here.

Variations over this exist:

SELECT ALL OBJECTS
IN MyMonadSet
WHERE
// Query here, will only find objects
// in the stored monad set "MyMonadSet"

SELECT ALL OBJECTS
IN {1-23400}
WHERE
// Query here, will only find objects
// within the monads {1-23400}.

Overview

The basics
Feature-restrictions
First/last
Object references
NOTEXIST and Kleene Star

The basics

Object blocks, Sequence, Embedding

Construction	Meaning	Example
[ObjectType]	Objects: Finds object of type ObjectType	[Word]
[A] [B]	Adjacency: Finds objects of type A that are adjacent to objects of type B. However, if there is a gap in the context, that gap will be ignored and objects on either side of the gap will be "adjacent"	[Word] [Phrase]
[A]! [B]	Strict adjacency: Finds objects of type A that are _really_ adjacent to objects of type B. No gaps allowed.	[Word]![Word]
[A [B] ]	Embedding: Finds objects of type A inside which there is an embedded object of type B.	[Phrase [Word] ]

Arbitrary space

Construction	Meaning	Example
[A [B] .. [C] ]	Arbitrary space: Finds objects of type A, inside of which ther are two objects, one of type B and one of type C, and they need not be adjacent (though they can be).	[Clause [Phrase] .. [Phrase] ]
[A [B] .. <= 5 [C] ]	Arbitrary space with restriction: Finds objects of type A, inside of which ther are two objects, one of type B and one of type C, and they need not be adjacent (though they can be), and there may be up to 5 monads between them.	[Clause [Phrase] .. <= 20 [Phrase] ]
[A [B] .. < 6 [C] ]	Arbitrary space with restriction: Finds objects of type A, inside of which ther are two objects, one of type B and one of type C, and they need not be adjacent (though they can be), and there may be up to 5 monads between them.	[Clause [Phrase] .. < 21 [Phrase] ]
[A [B] .. BETWEEN 3 AND 6 [C] ]	Arbitrary space with restriction: Finds objects of type A, inside of which ther are two objects, one of type B and one of type C, and they need not be adjacent (though they can be), and there must be at least 3 and at most 6 monads between them.	[Clause [Word] .. BETWEEN 2 AND 5 [Word] ]

Feature-restrictions

Basic feature-restrictions

Construction	Meaning	Example
[A myfeature = val]	Feature-equality: A's feature "myfeature" must have value "val". Other comparison-operators include: "<>": inequality (different from) "<": less than ">": greather than "<=": less than or equal to ">=": greater than or equal to	[Word lemma="see"]
[A myfeature IN (value-list)]	Value-list: A.myfeature must be an enumeration, and value-list must be a comma-separated list of enumeration constants in parentheses. The meaning is as if an OR had been placed between individual equality (=) comparisons between the feature and the members of the list.	[Word pos IN (article,noun, conjunction, adjective)]
[A myfeature ~ "regex"]	Regular expression: A.myfeature is matched via the regular expression "regex". The regular expressions are compatible with Perl 5. Can only be used with string-features.	[Word lemma ~ "A(b\|a\|e)*"]
[A myfeature !~ "regex"]	Negated regular expression: Matches those objects for which the feature in question does NOT match the regular expression. Can only be used with string-features.	[Word surface !~ "se(a\|e)"]

Boolean combinations of feature-restrictions

[A feature1 = value1 AND feature2 = value2 ]	Conjunction: Both feature-comparisons must be true at the same time for the object to match.	[Word lemma="see" AND tense=past]
[A feature1 = value1 OR feature2 = value2 ]	Disjunction: If either of the feature-comparisons evaluates to true, then the object matches.	[Phrase phrase_type = NP OR phrase_type=PP ]
[A NOT feature1 = value1]	Negation: The feature-comparison must not be true.	[Word NOT pos=verb]
[A (feature1 = value1 OR feature2 = value2) AND feature3 = value3)	Grouping: Parentheses can be used to group feature-comparisons.	[Phrase phrase_type = VP AND (function = Predicate OR function = PredCmpl) ]

First/last

An object can be first, last, or first and last in its context.

Construction	Meaning	Example
[B [A first] ]	The A object must be first in the context of the B object.	[Phrase [Word first] [Word] ]
[B [A last] ]	The A object must be last in the context of the B object.	[Phrase [Word] .. [Word last] ]
[B [A first and last] ]	The A object must be both first and last in the context of the B object.	[Phrase [Word first and last] ]

Object references

You can give an object a name with the "AS" keyword and then refer to that object later in the query with the "dot notation".

Construction	Meaning	Example
[A AS a1 [B feature_on_B = a1.feature_on_A] ]	B's feature_on_B feature must be the same as the feature_on_A feature on the A object.	[Phrase AS p1 // The phrase must // be the immediate // ancestor of the // word [Word parent = p1.self] ]

NOTEXIST and Kleene Star

The NOTEXIST keyword tells that an object must not exist at a given point.

The Kleene-Star tells that an object must occur either 0, 1, or more times.

The Kleene-Star with a set of integers tucked behind tells the exact number of times the object may occur.

Currently, the Kleene Star cannot be used on the first object in a context, or the first object after a "..".

Construction	Meaning	Example
[A NOTEXIST [B]]	There must not exist a B inside of A.	[Sentence NOTEXIST [Word surface="saw"] ]
[A [B] [C]* ]	Inside of A, there must be a B, followed by zero or more C's.	[Phrase [Word first pos=preposition] [Word pos IN (article,noun, conjunction)]* ]
[A [B] [C]*{0,1} ]	Inside of A, there must occur a B object, followed by either 0 or 1 C objects. Note how this makes the C object optional.	[Clause [word pos="conjunction"] [word pos="conjunction" ]*{0,1} ]