Get SQL code from an Entity Framework Core IQueryable<T>

Question

I am using Entity Framework Core and I need to see which SQL code is being generated. In previous versions of Entity Framework I could use the following:

string sql = ((System.Data.Objects.ObjectQuery)query).ToTraceString();

Where query is an IQueryable object ... But ToTraceString is not available in EF Core.

How can I do something similar in EF Core?

Answer 1

EF core 5 / Net 5

query.ToQueryString()

See Documentation ToQueryString() and What's New in EF Core 5.0

var query = _context.Widgets.Where(w => w.IsReal && w.Id == 42);  
var sql = query.ToQueryString();

For older net core frameworks an Extension can be used.

Core 2.1.2

using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.Internal;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.Expressions;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.Sql;
using static Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.DbLoggerCategory;

    public static class QueryableExtensions
    {
        private static readonly TypeInfo QueryCompilerTypeInfo = typeof(QueryCompiler).GetTypeInfo();
    
        private static readonly FieldInfo QueryCompilerField = typeof(EntityQueryProvider).GetTypeInfo().DeclaredFields.First(x => x.Name == "_queryCompiler");
        private static readonly FieldInfo QueryModelGeneratorField = typeof(QueryCompiler).GetTypeInfo().DeclaredFields.First(x => x.Name == "_queryModelGenerator");
        private static readonly FieldInfo DataBaseField = QueryCompilerTypeInfo.DeclaredFields.Single(x => x.Name == "_database");
        private static readonly PropertyInfo DatabaseDependenciesField = typeof(Database).GetTypeInfo().DeclaredProperties.Single(x => x.Name == "Dependencies");
    
        public static string ToSql<TEntity>(this IQueryable<TEntity> query)
        {
            var queryCompiler = (QueryCompiler) QueryCompilerField.GetValue(query.Provider);
            var queryModelGenerator = (QueryModelGenerator)QueryModelGeneratorField.GetValue(queryCompiler);
            var queryModel = queryModelGenerator.ParseQuery(query.Expression);
            var database = DataBaseField.GetValue(queryCompiler);
            var databaseDependencies = (DatabaseDependencies) DatabaseDependenciesField.GetValue(database);
            var queryCompilationContext = databaseDependencies.QueryCompilationContextFactory.Create(false);
            var modelVisitor = (RelationalQueryModelVisitor) queryCompilationContext.CreateQueryModelVisitor();
            modelVisitor.CreateQueryExecutor<TEntity>(queryModel);
            var sql = modelVisitor.Queries.First().ToString();
    
            return sql;
        }
    }

EF Core 3.0

        public static string ToSql<TEntity>(this IQueryable<TEntity> query)
        {
            var enumerator = query.Provider.Execute<IEnumerable<TEntity>>(query.Expression).GetEnumerator();
            var enumeratorType = enumerator.GetType();
            var selectFieldInfo = enumeratorType.GetField("_selectExpression", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance) ?? throw new InvalidOperationException($"cannot find field _selectExpression on type {enumeratorType.Name}");
            var sqlGeneratorFieldInfo = enumeratorType.GetField("_querySqlGeneratorFactory", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance) ?? throw new InvalidOperationException($"cannot find field _querySqlGeneratorFactory on type {enumeratorType.Name}");
            var selectExpression = selectFieldInfo.GetValue(enumerator) as SelectExpression ?? throw new InvalidOperationException($"could not get SelectExpression");
            var factory = sqlGeneratorFieldInfo.GetValue(enumerator) as IQuerySqlGeneratorFactory ?? throw new InvalidOperationException($"could not get IQuerySqlGeneratorFactory");
            var sqlGenerator = factory.Create();
            var command = sqlGenerator.GetCommand(selectExpression);
            var sql = command.CommandText;
            return sql;
        }

see Gist from RosiOli

EF Core 3.1

using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.SqlExpressions;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query;

public static string ToSql<TEntity>(this IQueryable<TEntity> query) where TEntity : class
{
    var enumerator = query.Provider.Execute<IEnumerable<TEntity>>(query.Expression).GetEnumerator();
    var relationalCommandCache = enumerator.Private("_relationalCommandCache");
    var selectExpression = relationalCommandCache.Private<SelectExpression>("_selectExpression");
    var factory = relationalCommandCache.Private<IQuerySqlGeneratorFactory>("_querySqlGeneratorFactory");

    var sqlGenerator = factory.Create();
    var command = sqlGenerator.GetCommand(selectExpression);

    string sql = command.CommandText;
    return sql;
}

private static object Private(this object obj, string privateField) => obj?.GetType().GetField(privateField, BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic)?.GetValue(obj);
private static T Private<T>(this object obj, string privateField) => (T)obj?.GetType().GetField(privateField, BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic)?.GetValue(obj);

The issue is also tracked by the EF net core team and is scheduled for the next release.