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title: SAQL Basic Elements
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  - Analytics SAQL Developer Guide
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# SAQL Basic Elements

Basic elements are the building blocks of your SAQL query.

- **[Statements](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-statements.md)**


    A SAQL query loads input data, operates on it, and outputs the result data. A query is made up of statements. Each SAQL statement has an input stream, an operation, and an output stream.

- **[Keywords](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-keywords.md)**


    Keywords are case-sensitive and must be lowercase.

- **[Identifiers](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-identifiers.md)**


    SAQL identifiers are case-sensitive and must be enclosed in single quotation marks (').

- **[Number Literals](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-number-literals.md)**


    A number literal represents a number in your script.

- **[String Literals](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-string-literals.md)**


    A string is a set of characters inside double quotes (").

- **[Boolean Literals](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-boolean-literals.md)**


    A boolean literal represents true or false (yes or no) in your script.

- **[Multivalue Field](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/guide/bi-saql-multivalue.md)**


    A multivalue field contains more than one value.

- **[Quoted String Escape Sequences](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-quotedstringescapes.md)**


    Strings can be escaped with the backslash character.

- **[Special Characters](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-special-characters.md)**


    Certain characters have special meanings in SAQL.

- **[Comments](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/analytics/bi-dev-guide-saql/reference/bi-saql-comments.md)**


    To add a single-line comment in SAQL, preface your comment with two hyphens (`--`). To add a multi-line comment, start your comment with a forward slash and asterisk (`/*`) and end it with an asterisk and forward slash (`*/`).