DuckDB Jumpstart: From Zero to Analytics in Minutes

DuckDB Essentials: Getting Started
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DuckDB is an embedded SQL OLAP database management system designed for analytical workloads. Key features include:

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Core Characteristics

• Embedded Architecture: Runs within your application process, eliminating inter-process communication overhead  
• High Performance: Optimized for complex queries on large datasets  
• Lightweight: Minimal memory footprint ideal for resource-constrained environments  
• Cross-Platform: Supports Windows, macOS, Linux, Android  
• Full SQL Support: Aggregations, window functions, joins, and UDFs

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Installation Methods

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Source Compilation:

# Install dependencies
yum -y install gcc gcc-c++ make cmake

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb.git

# Build
cd duckdb
make -j8

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Binary Installation:

wget https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb/releases/download/v0.9.2/duckdb_cli-linux-amd64.zip
unzip duckdb_cli-linux-amd64.zip
./duckdb

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Data Import Techniques

​CSV Import

-- Auto-detect schema
SELECT * FROM read_csv_auto('test.csv');

-- Manual schema definition
COPY test_csv FROM 'test.csv' (AUTO_DETECT true);

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Parquet Integration

# Python conversion
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv('test.csv')
df.to_parquet('test.parquet')

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-- Query Parquet
SELECT * FROM read_parquet('test.parquet');

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JSON Handling

-- Structured import
SELECT * FROM read_json_auto('test.json');

-- Unstructured analysis
SELECT * FROM read_json_auto('test.json', format='unstructured');

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SQL Operations & Extensions

​Basic Queries

CREATE TABLE employees (
  first_name VARCHAR,
  last_name VARCHAR,
  age INT
);

INSERT INTO employees VALUES 
  ('Zhang', 'San', 57),
  ('Li', 'Si', 48);

SELECT * FROM employees;

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​Extensions

-- Install HTTP/S3 extension
INSTALL httpfs;
LOAD httpfs;

-- Query remote data
SELECT * FROM 'http://example.com/data.csv';

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Python API

import duckdb
con = duckdb.connect()
con.sql("SELECT * FROM 'test.csv'").show()

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Export & Management

-- Export entire database
EXPORT DATABASE 'my_backup';

-- Attach existing database
ATTACH 'production.db';
SHOW DATABASES;

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Performance Note: DuckDB processes complex aggregations 3-5x faster than traditional row-based databases on analytical workloads.