diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3d91dae..3decdfb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -92,6 +92,9 @@ The following options are available:
 `emitColumns`
 : When `true`, the column names in the `SELECT` statement are emitted as the first tuple in the resulting channel.
 
+`trailingSemicolon`
+: When `true`, append a semicolon `;` to the end of the SQL query if it is not present (default: `true`).
+
 ### sqlInsert
 
 The `sqlInsert` operator collects the items in a source channel and inserts them into a SQL database. For example:
diff --git a/plugins/nf-sqldb/src/main/nextflow/sql/ChannelSqlExtension.groovy b/plugins/nf-sqldb/src/main/nextflow/sql/ChannelSqlExtension.groovy
index b9791f8..87b0bdb 100644
--- a/plugins/nf-sqldb/src/main/nextflow/sql/ChannelSqlExtension.groovy
+++ b/plugins/nf-sqldb/src/main/nextflow/sql/ChannelSqlExtension.groovy
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ class ChannelSqlExtension extends PluginExtensionPoint {
             db: CharSequence,
             emitColumns: Boolean,
             batchSize: Integer,
-            batchDelay: Integer
+            batchDelay: Integer,
+            trailingSemicolon: Boolean
     ]
 
     private static final Map INSERT_PARAMS = [
diff --git a/plugins/nf-sqldb/src/main/nextflow/sql/QueryHandler.groovy b/plugins/nf-sqldb/src/main/nextflow/sql/QueryHandler.groovy
index d7ea945..8a26255 100644
--- a/plugins/nf-sqldb/src/main/nextflow/sql/QueryHandler.groovy
+++ b/plugins/nf-sqldb/src/main/nextflow/sql/QueryHandler.groovy
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ class QueryHandler implements QueryOp<QueryHandler> {
     private boolean emitColumns = false
     private Integer batchSize
     private long batchDelayMillis = 100
+    private boolean trailingSemicolon = true
     private int queryCount
 
     @Override
@@ -97,6 +98,8 @@ class QueryHandler implements QueryOp<QueryHandler> {
             this.batchSize = opts.batchSize as Integer
         if( opts.batchDelay )
             this.batchDelayMillis = opts.batchDelay as long
+        if( opts.trailingSemicolon )
+            this.trailingSemicolon = opts.trailingSemicolon as boolean
         return this
     }
 
@@ -127,7 +130,7 @@ class QueryHandler implements QueryOp<QueryHandler> {
         if( !q )
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing query argument")
         def result = q.trim()
-        if( !result.endsWith(';') )
+        if( trailingSemicolon && !result.endsWith(';') )
             result += ';'
         return result
     }