Sleep function

This function can be used to introduce a delay or pause in the execution of a query or a batch of queries for a specific amount of time.

sleep

The sleep function delays or pauses the execution of a query or a set of statements.

API DEFINITION
sleep(duration) -> none

The following example shows this function, and its output, when used in a RETURN statement:

RETURN sleep(1s);
RETURN sleep(500ms);

SurrealDB also has a SLEEP statement statement that accepts a datetime; however, the sleep function can be used in more dynamic ways such as the following example that simulates a 100ms delay between each record in a query.

-- Create 3 `person` records
CREATE |person:3|;

LET $now = time::now();

SELECT *, 
  sleep(100ms) AS _, 
  time::now() - $now AS elapsed
FROM person;

Response
[
	{
		_: NONE,
		elapsed: 101ms457µs,
		id: person:fkgvriz1kl2tcgv6yqfq
	},
	{
		_: NONE,
		elapsed: 203ms599µs,
		id: person:lgibwdgtvx4v8ck60guk
	},
	{
		_: NONE,
		elapsed: 305ms728µs,
		id: person:pr0uby896y1az2p44wtw
	}
]

SLEEP during parallel operations

The sleep() function does not interfere with operations that are underway in the background, such as a DEFINE INDEX statement using the CONCURRENTLY clause.

CREATE |user:50000| SET name = id.id() RETURN NONE;
DEFINE INDEX unique_name ON TABLE user FIELDS name UNIQUE CONCURRENTLY;
INFO FOR INDEX unique_name ON TABLE user;√
RETURN sleep(50ms);
INFO FOR INDEX unique_name ON TABLE user;
RETURN sleep(50ms);
INFO FOR INDEX unique_name ON TABLE user;
RETURN sleep(50ms);
INFO FOR INDEX unique_name ON TABLE user;

Possible output
-------- Query 1 --------
{
	building: {
		count: 0,
		status: 'initial'
	}
}

-------- Query 2 --------
{
	building: {
		count: 17250,
		status: 'initial'
	}
}

-------- Query 3 --------
{
	building: {
		count: 33542,
		status: 'initial'
	}
}

-------- Query 4 --------
{
	building: {
		status: 'built'
	}
}

Use cases

Putting a database to sleep can be useful in a small number of situations, such as:

• Testing and debugging: can be used to understand how concurrent transactions interact, test how systems handle timeouts and delays, simulate behaviour in more distant regions with longer latency
• Throttling: can be used to throttle the execution of operations to prevent the database from being overwhelmed by too many requests at once
• Security measures: can be used to slow down the response rate of login attempts to mitigate the risk of brute force attacks