---
title: "5: Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields | SurrealDB University"
description: "Follow along with interactive SurrealDB lessons featuring hands-on exercises, code examples, and step-by-step instructions."
url: https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-05
---

![Course content preview](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/town.D95IYf2V.avif)

[Back to Courses](https://surrealdb.com/learn)

Course chapters

[Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour) [1: Connecting to a database](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-01) [2: Creating records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-02) [3: Using the ONLY keyword](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-03) [4: Non-ASCII record IDs](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-04) [5: Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-05) [6: Deleting records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-06) [7: Field order in objects](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-07) [8: Tips when selecting records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-08) [9: Casting and aliases](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-09) [10: Affixes](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-10) [11: Updating records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-11) [12: Linking records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-12) [13: Viewing the database as a whole](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-13) [14: Schemafull and schemaless](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-14) [15: Viewing the schema](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-15) [16: Literal types and assertions](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-16) [17: INSERT and using JSON](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-17) [18: FOR loops](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-18) [19: Basic graph relations](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-19) [20: Creating graph edges](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-20) [21: Querying graph relations](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-21) [22: Graph relations at greater depth](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-22) [23: Adding and improving data](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-23) [24: Defining events](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-24) [25: Defining indexes](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-25) [26: Improving the schema](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-26) [27: Visualising graph paths](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-27) [28: Recursive queries: setup](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-28) [29: Recursive queries](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-29) [30: More on recursive queries](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-30) [31: AI vector search](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-31) [Done the tour!](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-32)

# 5: Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields

The first item in an array is at index 0, so you can use `[0]` to grab it.

```
["first", "second", "third"][0];
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

Response

```surql
'first'
```

Since it's impossible to always know the last index number of an array, the last element uses its own character: `[$]`.

```
["first", "second", "third"][$];
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

Response

```surql
'third'
```

And since statements like `CREATE` return an array of results, you might want to pull out the result at a certain index too.

But if you just add `[0]` at the end of a CREATE statement it won't work, because the `[0]` in `place[0]` applies to `place` (which is just a table name), not to the result of `CREATE place`.

```
CREATE place[0];
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

Response

```surql
"Can not execute CREATE statement using value 'NONE'"
```

To fix it, surround the whole statement in parentheses first.

```
(CREATE place)[0];
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

Records have an object-like structure that holds keys (fields) and values. You can access a single field by using a dot and then the field name.

```
{    name: "Surreal library",    id: place:surreal_library}.id;
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

Response

```surql
place:surreal_library
```

As above, you can surround a statement in parentheses and then choose a field to return.

Accessing a single field

```
(CREATE place).id;
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

The output is an array of IDs, because `.id` tells the database to go through the array and only gather the values of the `id` field.

Response

```surql
[
  place:exqlj50tybc6yb1wjrx3
]
```

If you want to access more than one field, you can give the output a [structure](https://surrealdb.com/docs/reference/query-language/language-primitives/idioms#destructuring) by adding a `{}` after the dot and putting the field names inside there.

Accessing multiple fields

```
(CREATE place SET place_type = "library", num_books = 10000).{  place_type,  num_books};
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

Response

```surql
[
  {
    num_books: 10000,
    place_type: 'library'
  }
]
```

Previous

4: Non-ASCII record IDs

[Previous](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-04)

Next lesson

6: Deleting records

[Next lesson](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-06)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Course","name":"Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!","description":"Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour","inLanguage":"en","isAccessibleForFree":true,"provider":{"@type":"Organization","name":"SurrealDB","url":"https://surrealdb.com"},"hasPart":[{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"1: Connecting to a database","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-01"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"2: Creating records","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-02"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"3: Using the ONLY keyword","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-03"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"4: Non-ASCII record IDs","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-04"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"5: Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-05"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"6: Deleting records","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-06"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"7: Field order in objects","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-07"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"8: Tips when selecting records","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-08"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"9: Casting and aliases","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-09"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"10: Affixes","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-10"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"11: Updating records","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-11"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"12: Linking records","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-12"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"13: Viewing the database as a whole","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-13"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"14: Schemafull and schemaless","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-14"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"15: Viewing the schema","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-15"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"16: Literal types and assertions","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-16"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"17: INSERT and using JSON","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-17"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"18: FOR loops","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-18"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"19: Basic graph relations","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-19"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"20: Creating graph edges","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-20"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"21: Querying graph relations","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-21"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"22: Graph relations at greater depth","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-22"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"23: Adding and improving data","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-23"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"24: Defining events","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-24"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"25: Defining indexes","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-25"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"26: Improving the schema","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-26"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"27: Visualising graph paths","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-27"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"28: Recursive queries: setup","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-28"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"29: Recursive queries","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-29"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"30: More on recursive queries","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-30"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"31: AI vector search","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-31"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"Done the tour!","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-32"}]}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"LearningResource","name":"5: Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields","description":"Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-05","learningResourceType":"lesson","isPartOf":{"@type":"Course","name":"Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour"},"position":6}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"SurrealDB","url":"https://surrealdb.com","logo":"https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/logo.BG7_TG2b.svg","description":"SurrealDB is the unified data layer for AI. A multi-model database for documents, graphs, vectors, and time-series.","foundingDate":"2022","hasCertification":[{"@type":"Certification","name":"SOC 2 Type 2"},{"@type":"Certification","name":"GDPR"},{"@type":"Certification","name":"Cyber Essentials Plus"},{"@type":"Certification","name":"ISO 27001"}],"owns":[{"@type":"SoftwareApplication","name":"SurrealDB","url":"https://surrealdb.com/surrealdb"},{"@type":"SoftwareApplication","name":"Agent Memory","url":"https://surrealdb.com/agent-memory"}],"knowsAbout":["multi-model databases","document databases","graph databases","vector search","time-series databases","SurrealQL","Agent Memory","real-time databases","embedded databases","context layer","graph ontology","distributed database","knowledge graphs","distributed transaction protocols","highly-scalable databases"],"sameAs":["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q124316308","https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb","https://twitter.com/surrealdb","https://www.youtube.com/@surrealdb","https://www.linkedin.com/company/surrealdb","https://discord.gg/surrealdb","https://www.reddit.com/r/surrealdb","https://www.instagram.com/surrealdb","https://medium.com/surrealdb","https://dev.to/surrealdb"]}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://surrealdb.com"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Learn","item":"https://surrealdb.com/learn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Page 05","item":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-05"}]}
```