diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c6a7d4f3..48fe5ef5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 *.jl.cov
 *.jl.*.cov
 *.jl.mem
+*.idea/
 docs/build/
 docs/site/
 docs/Manifest.toml
diff --git a/Manifest.toml b/Manifest.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3a473da0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Manifest.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+# This file is machine-generated - editing it directly is not advised
+
+[[Base64]]
+uuid = "2a0f44e3-6c83-55bd-87e4-b1978d98bd5f"
+
+[[Compat]]
+deps = ["Base64", "Dates", "DelimitedFiles", "Distributed", "InteractiveUtils", "LibGit2", "Libdl", "LinearAlgebra", "Markdown", "Mmap", "Pkg", "Printf", "REPL", "Random", "Serialization", "SharedArrays", "Sockets", "SparseArrays", "Statistics", "Test", "UUIDs", "Unicode"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "49269e311ffe11ac5b334681d212329002a9832a"
+uuid = "34da2185-b29b-5c13-b0c7-acf172513d20"
+version = "1.5.1"
+
+[[DataStructures]]
+deps = ["InteractiveUtils", "OrderedCollections", "Random", "Serialization", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "ca971f03e146cf144a9e2f2ce59674f5bf0e8038"
+uuid = "864edb3b-99cc-5e75-8d2d-829cb0a9cfe8"
+version = "0.15.0"
+
+[[DataValues]]
+deps = ["Dates", "InteractiveUtils", "LinearAlgebra", "Random", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "05e4a87fe52a2af1b4a1ffd3ab2fc996c038b192"
+uuid = "e7dc6d0d-1eca-5fa6-8ad6-5aecde8b7ea5"
+version = "0.4.7"
+
+[[Dates]]
+deps = ["Printf"]
+uuid = "ade2ca70-3891-5945-98fb-dc099432e06a"
+
+[[DelimitedFiles]]
+deps = ["Mmap"]
+uuid = "8bb1440f-4735-579b-a4ab-409b98df4dab"
+
+[[Distributed]]
+deps = ["Random", "Serialization", "Sockets"]
+uuid = "8ba89e20-285c-5b6f-9357-94700520ee1b"
+
+[[InteractiveUtils]]
+deps = ["Markdown"]
+uuid = "b77e0a4c-d291-57a0-90e8-8db25a27a240"
+
+[[IterableTables]]
+deps = ["DataValues", "IteratorInterfaceExtensions", "Requires", "TableTraits", "TableTraitsUtils", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "0eec91e8185899f3926f56db515559bfe95b9db7"
+uuid = "1c8ee90f-4401-5389-894e-7a04a3dc0f4d"
+version = "0.10.0"
+
+[[IteratorInterfaceExtensions]]
+deps = ["Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "5484e5ede2a4137b9643f4d646e8e7b87b794415"
+uuid = "82899510-4779-5014-852e-03e436cf321d"
+version = "0.1.1"
+
+[[JSON]]
+deps = ["Dates", "Distributed", "Mmap", "Sockets", "Test", "Unicode"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "1f7a25b53ec67f5e9422f1f551ee216503f4a0fa"
+uuid = "682c06a0-de6a-54ab-a142-c8b1cf79cde6"
+version = "0.20.0"
+
+[[LibGit2]]
+uuid = "76f85450-5226-5b5a-8eaa-529ad045b433"
+
+[[Libdl]]
+uuid = "8f399da3-3557-5675-b5ff-fb832c97cbdb"
+
+[[LinearAlgebra]]
+deps = ["Libdl"]
+uuid = "37e2e46d-f89d-539d-b4ee-838fcccc9c8e"
+
+[[Logging]]
+uuid = "56ddb016-857b-54e1-b83d-db4d58db5568"
+
+[[MLStyle]]
+deps = ["Statistics", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "bb14ec600351a59326c3058df0e45bd8b4a6dda4"
+uuid = "d8e11817-5142-5d16-987a-aa16d5891078"
+version = "0.2.4"
+
+[[MacroTools]]
+deps = ["Compat"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "c443e1c8d58a4e9f61b708ad0a88286c7042145b"
+uuid = "1914dd2f-81c6-5fcd-8719-6d5c9610ff09"
+version = "0.4.4"
+
+[[Markdown]]
+deps = ["Base64"]
+uuid = "d6f4376e-aef5-505a-96c1-9c027394607a"
+
+[[Missings]]
+deps = ["Dates", "InteractiveUtils", "SparseArrays", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "d1d2585677f2bd93a97cfeb8faa7a0de0f982042"
+uuid = "e1d29d7a-bbdc-5cf2-9ac0-f12de2c33e28"
+version = "0.4.0"
+
+[[Mmap]]
+uuid = "a63ad114-7e13-5084-954f-fe012c677804"
+
+[[OrderedCollections]]
+deps = ["Random", "Serialization", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "85619a3f3e17bb4761fe1b1fd47f0e979f964d5b"
+uuid = "bac558e1-5e72-5ebc-8fee-abe8a469f55d"
+version = "1.0.2"
+
+[[Pkg]]
+deps = ["Dates", "LibGit2", "Markdown", "Printf", "REPL", "Random", "SHA", "UUIDs"]
+uuid = "44cfe95a-1eb2-52ea-b672-e2afdf69b78f"
+
+[[Printf]]
+deps = ["Unicode"]
+uuid = "de0858da-6303-5e67-8744-51eddeeeb8d7"
+
+[[QueryOperators]]
+deps = ["DataStructures", "DataValues", "IteratorInterfaceExtensions", "TableShowUtils", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "c4b313e8fdead212a6100953b7611e0e8cc79f8f"
+uuid = "2aef5ad7-51ca-5a8f-8e88-e75cf067b44b"
+version = "0.6.0"
+
+[[REPL]]
+deps = ["InteractiveUtils", "Markdown", "Sockets"]
+uuid = "3fa0cd96-eef1-5676-8a61-b3b8758bbffb"
+
+[[Random]]
+deps = ["Serialization"]
+uuid = "9a3f8284-a2c9-5f02-9a11-845980a1fd5c"
+
+[[Requires]]
+deps = ["Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "f6fbf4ba64d295e146e49e021207993b6b48c7d1"
+uuid = "ae029012-a4dd-5104-9daa-d747884805df"
+version = "0.5.2"
+
+[[SHA]]
+uuid = "ea8e919c-243c-51af-8825-aaa63cd721ce"
+
+[[Serialization]]
+uuid = "9e88b42a-f829-5b0c-bbe9-9e923198166b"
+
+[[SharedArrays]]
+deps = ["Distributed", "Mmap", "Random", "Serialization"]
+uuid = "1a1011a3-84de-559e-8e89-a11a2f7dc383"
+
+[[Sockets]]
+uuid = "6462fe0b-24de-5631-8697-dd941f90decc"
+
+[[SparseArrays]]
+deps = ["LinearAlgebra", "Random"]
+uuid = "2f01184e-e22b-5df5-ae63-d93ebab69eaf"
+
+[[Statistics]]
+deps = ["LinearAlgebra", "SparseArrays"]
+uuid = "10745b16-79ce-11e8-11f9-7d13ad32a3b2"
+
+[[TableShowUtils]]
+deps = ["DataValues", "Dates", "JSON", "Markdown", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "6ffc18504eab3f900af2d23adc0e7bddf94bd29b"
+uuid = "5e66a065-1f0a-5976-b372-e0b8c017ca10"
+version = "0.2.1"
+
+[[TableTraits]]
+deps = ["IteratorInterfaceExtensions", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "eba4b1d0a82bdd773307d652c6e5f8c82104c676"
+uuid = "3783bdb8-4a98-5b6b-af9a-565f29a5fe9c"
+version = "0.4.1"
+
+[[TableTraitsUtils]]
+deps = ["DataValues", "IteratorInterfaceExtensions", "Missings", "TableTraits", "Test"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "a355f1882d64881a11f853e64dcc353975c4df6e"
+uuid = "382cd787-c1b6-5bf2-a167-d5b971a19bda"
+version = "0.3.1"
+
+[[Test]]
+deps = ["Distributed", "InteractiveUtils", "Logging", "Random"]
+uuid = "8dfed614-e22c-5e08-85e1-65c5234f0b40"
+
+[[UUIDs]]
+deps = ["Random", "SHA"]
+uuid = "cf7118a7-6976-5b1a-9a39-7adc72f591a4"
+
+[[Unicode]]
+uuid = "4ec0a83e-493e-50e2-b9ac-8f72acf5a8f5"
diff --git a/REQUIRE b/REQUIRE
index 27fef956..6af5dd63 100644
--- a/REQUIRE
+++ b/REQUIRE
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ IterableTables 0.8.2
 DataValues 0.4.4
 MacroTools 0.4.4
 QueryOperators 0.6.0
+MLStyle 0.3.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Query.jl b/src/Query.jl
index 780e6c10..82262269 100644
--- a/src/Query.jl
+++ b/src/Query.jl
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import IterableTables
 using DataValues
 using MacroTools: postwalk
 using QueryOperators
+using MLStyle
 
 export @from, @query, @count, Grouping, key
 
diff --git a/src/table_query_macros.jl b/src/table_query_macros.jl
index 40495823..e1ae8540 100644
--- a/src/table_query_macros.jl
+++ b/src/table_query_macros.jl
@@ -23,94 +23,97 @@ julia> df |> @select(startswith("b"), -:bar) |> DataFrame
 │ 3   │ c      │
 ```
 """
+
+@active Predicate(x) begin
+    (op :: Any, x) = @match x begin
+        :(-$x) => (:-, x)
+        :(!$x) => (:!, x)
+        _      => (nothing, x)
+    end
+    res = @match x begin
+        :(startswith($arg)) => (:startswith, arg)
+        :(endswith($arg)) => (:endswith, arg)
+        :(occursin($arg)) => (:occursin, arg)
+        _                 => nothing
+    end
+    if res !== nothing
+        (kind, arg) = res
+        if arg isa String
+            arg = QuoteNode(Symbol(arg))
+        end
+        (op, kind, arg)
+    end
+end
+
+
+@active QuoteNodeP(x) begin
+    x isa QuoteNode ? x.value : nothing
+end
+
 macro select(args...)
-    prev = NamedTuple()
-    for arg in args
-        if typeof(arg) == Expr && (string(arg) == "everything()")
-            # select everything
-            prev = :_
-        elseif typeof(arg) == Int
-            # select by position
-            if arg > 0
-                prev = :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.select(_, Val(keys(_)[$arg]))) )
-            # remove by position
-            elseif arg < 0
-                sel = ifelse(prev == NamedTuple(), :_, prev)
-                prev = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.remove($sel, Val(keys($sel)[-$arg])) )
-            end
-        elseif typeof(arg) == QuoteNode
-            # select by name
-            prev = :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.select(_, Val($(arg)))) )
-        else
-            arg = string(arg)
-            # select by element type
-            m_type = match(r":\(:(.+)\)", arg)
-            # remove by name
-            m_rem = match(r"^-:(.+)", arg)
-            # remove by predicate functions
-            m_rem_pred = match(r"^-\(*(startswith|endswith|occursin)\(\"(.+)\"\)+", arg)
-            # select by range, with multiple syntaxes supported
-            m_range = match(r"^:([^,:]+) *: *:([^,:]+)", arg)
-            m_range_ind = match(r"^([0-9]+) *: *([0-9]+)", arg)
-            if m_range == nothing && m_range_ind == nothing
-                m_range = match(r"^rangeat\(:([^,]+), *:([^,]+)\)", arg)
-                m_range_ind = match(r"^rangeat\(([0-9]+), *([0-9]+)\)", arg)
-            end
-            # select by predicate functions
-            m_pred = match(r"^(startswith|endswith|occursin)\(\"(.+)\"\)", arg)
-            is_neg_pred = false
-            if m_pred == nothing
-                m_pred = match(r"^!\(*(startswith|endswith|occursin)\(\"(.+)\"\)+", arg)
-                is_neg_pred = true
-            end
+    foldl(args, init=NamedTuple()) do prev, arg
+        @match arg begin
+            :(everything()) => :_
+
+            ::Int && if arg > 0 end =>
+                :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.select(_, Val(keys(_)[$arg]))) )
 
-            # TODO: eltype
-            if m_type !== nothing
-                prev = :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.oftype(_, parse(DataType, @datatype($m_type[1])))) )
-            elseif m_rem !== nothing
-                prev = ifelse(prev == NamedTuple(), :_, prev)
-                prev = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.remove($prev, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_rem[1]))))) )
-            elseif m_rem_pred !== nothing
-                prev = ifelse(prev == NamedTuple(), :_, prev)
-                if m_rem_pred[1] == "startswith"
-                    prev = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_startswith($prev, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_rem_pred[2]))))) )
-                elseif m_rem_pred[1] == "endswith"
-                    prev = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_endswith($prev, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_rem_pred[2]))))) )
-                elseif m_rem_pred[1] == "occursin"
-                    prev = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_occursin($prev, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_rem_pred[2]))))) )
+            ::Int && if arg < 0 end =>
+                let sel = ifelse(prev == NamedTuple(), :_, prev)
+                    :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.remove($sel, Val(keys($sel)[-$arg])) )
                 end
-            elseif m_range !== nothing || m_range_ind !== nothing
-                if m_range_ind !== nothing
-                    a = parse(Int, m_range_ind[1])
-                    b = parse(Int, m_range_ind[2])
-                    prev = :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.range(_, Val(keys(_)[$a]), Val(keys(_)[$b]))) )
-                else
-                    prev = :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.range(_, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_range[1])))), Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_range[2])))))) )
+            ::QuoteNode =>
+                :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.select(_, Val($(arg)))) )
+
+            # remove by name
+            :(-$(name :: QuoteNode)) && if name.value isa Symbol end =>
+                let prev = ifelse(prev == NamedTuple(), :_, prev)
+                    :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.remove($prev, Val($name)) )
                 end
-            elseif m_pred !== nothing
-                if is_neg_pred == false
-                    if m_pred[1] == "startswith"
-                        sel = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.startswith(_, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_pred[2]))))) )
-                    elseif m_pred[1] == "endswith"
-                        sel = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.endswith(_, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_pred[2]))))) )
-                    elseif m_pred[1] == "occursin"
-                        sel = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.occursin(_, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_pred[2]))))) )
-                    end
+
+            # select by element type
+            :(::$typ) =>
+                :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.oftype(_, typ)) )
+
+            # select by range, with multiple syntaxes supported
+           :(rangeat($a, $b)) || :($a : $b) =>
+                if a isa Int && b isa Int
+                    :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.range(_, Val(keys(_)[$a]), Val(keys(_)[$b]))) )
                 else
-                    if m_pred[1] == "startswith"
-                        sel = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_startswith(_, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_pred[2]))))) )
-                    elseif m_pred[1] == "endswith"
-                        sel = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_endswith(_, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_pred[2]))))) )
-                    elseif m_pred[1] == "occursin"
-                        sel = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_occursin(_, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m_pred[2]))))) )
-                    end
+                    :( merge($prev, QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.range(_, Val($a), Val($b))) )
+                end
+            Predicate(op, kind, arg) =>
+            let
+                pos_f = @match kind begin
+                        :startswith => :(QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.startswith)
+                        :endswith => :(QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.endswith)
+                        :occursin => :(QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.occursin)
+                end
+
+                neg_f = @match kind begin
+                        :startswith => :(QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_startswith)
+                        :endswith => :(QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_endswith)
+                        :occursin => :(QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.not_occursin)
+                end
+
+                # select by predicate functions
+                select_by_predicate(pred) = Expr(:call, merge, prev, Expr(:call, pred, :_, Expr(:call, Val, arg)))
+
+                @match op begin
+                    if op === nothing end => select_by_predicate(pos_f)
+                    :!                    => select_by_predicate(neg_f)
+
+                    # remove by predicate functions
+                    :- =>
+                        let prev = ifelse(prev == NamedTuple(), :_, prev)
+                            Expr(:call, neg_f, prev, Expr(:call, Val, arg))
+                        end
+
                 end
-                prev = :( merge($prev, $sel) )
             end
         end
-    end
-
-    return :(Query.@map( $prev ) )
+    end |> prev ->
+    :(Query.@map($prev))
 end
 
 """
@@ -137,24 +140,15 @@ julia> df |> @rename(:foo => :fat, :bar => :ban) |> DataFrame
 ```
 """
 macro rename(args...)
-    prev = :_
-    for arg in args
-        n = match(r"^(.+) *=> *:(.+)", string(arg))
-        try
-            # rename by position
-            n1 = parse(Int, n[1])
-            n2 = strip(n[2])
-            prev = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.rename($prev, Val(keys(_)[$n1]), Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(n2))))) )
-        catch
-            # rename by name
-            m = match(r"^:(.+) *=> *:(.+)", string(arg))
-            m1, m2 = strip(m[1]), strip(m[2])
-            if m !== nothing
-                prev = :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.rename($prev, Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m1)))), Val($(QuoteNode(Symbol(m2))))) )
-            end
+    foldl(args, init = :_) do prev, arg
+        @match arg begin
+            :($(n1 :: Int) => $n2) =>
+                :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.rename($prev, Val(keys(_)[$n1]), Val($n2)) )
+            :($m1 => $m2) =>
+                :( QueryOperators.NamedTupleUtilities.rename($prev, Val($m1), Val($m2)))
         end
-    end
-    return :(Query.@map( $prev ) )
+    end |> prev ->
+    :(Query.@map( $prev ) )
 end
 
 """
@@ -181,11 +175,12 @@ julia> df |> @mutate(bar = _.foo + 2 * _.bar, bat = "com" * _.bat) |> DataFrame
 ```
 """
 macro mutate(args...)
-    prev = :_
-    for arg in args
-        prev = :( merge($prev, ($(esc(arg.args[1])) = $(arg.args[2]),)) )
-    end
-    return :( Query.@map( $prev ) )
+    foldl(args, init=:_) do prev, arg
+        @match arg begin
+            :($alias = $expr) => :( merge($prev, ($(esc(alias)) = $(expr),)) )
+        end
+    end |> prev ->
+    :( Query.@map( $prev ) )
 end
 
 macro datatype(str)