A hierarchical query is a type of SQL query that handles hierarchical model data. They are special cases of more general recursive fixpoint queries, which compute transitive closures. In standard SQL:1999 hierarchical queries are implemented by way of recursive (CTEs). Unlike Oracle's earlier , recursive CTEs were designed with fixpoint semantics from the beginning. Recursive CTEs from the standard were relatively close to the existing implementation in IBM DB2 version 2. Recursive CTEs are also supported by Microsoft SQL Server (since SQL Server 2008 R2), Firebird 2.1, PostgreSQL 8.4+, SQLite 3.8.3+, IBM Informix version 11.50+, CUBRID, MariaDB 10.2+ and MySQL 8.0.1+. Tableau has documentation describing how CTEs can be used. TIBCO Spotfire does not support CTEs, while Oracle 11g Release