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Data Types

A data type is a classification of data that determines the type of value a variable possesses and the types of mathematical, relational, or logical operations that can be performed on it. Dremio supports the following SQL data types: numeric, string and binary, boolean, date and time, and semi-structured.

The following topics related to data types are covered:

Summary of Supported Data Types in Dremio​

Dremio supports the following SQL data types.

Numeric Data Types​

DECIMAL​

A DECIMAL type has precision (p) and scale (s): DECIMAL(p,s). Precision is the total number of digits. Scale is the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. When you perform arithmetic on DECIMAL types that have different precision and/or scale, the return value will have sufficient precision and scale to hold the result of the operation. The following are decimal limitations in Dremio:

  • Decimal numeric literals in SQL queries cannot be larger than the maximum BIGINT value, which is 9223372036854775807.
  • Queries that perform arithmetic operations on a column and literal may cause errors. For example, SELECT CAST(12345 as DOUBLE) * CAST(A as DOUBLE) fails. The workaround is to use a string value such as SELECT CAST('12345' as DOUBLE) * CAST(A as DOUBLE).
  • Queries casting numeric literals to decimal should use specific precision. Precision of literal cannot be lowered. For example, CAST(123.23 as DECIMAL(2,0)) returns the same number as the output since the given number cannot be represented using a precision of 2.
  • When there is an overflow with the decimal arithmetic output, the returned result will overflow.
  • Example: 987.65 is a DECIMAL(5, 2) value

INT​

  • A 4-byte signed integer. The supported range is from -2147483648 to 2147483647.
  • Example: 5135

BIGINT​

  • An 8-byte signed integer. The supported range is from -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807.
  • Example: -749826542587

FLOAT​

  • A 4-byte single-precision floating point. A FLOAT provides six decimal digits of precision.
  • Example: 123.123456

DOUBLE​

  • 8-byte double-precision floating point. A DOUBLE provides 15 decimal digits of precision.
  • Example: 123.123456789012345

String & Binary Data Types​

VARCHAR​

  • VARCHAR stands for variable-length character string. By default, the maximum allowed length is is 32,000 bytes. VARCHAR supports only UTF-8 encoded values.
  • Example: 18852367854

VARBINARY​

VARBINARY stands for variable-length binary string. By default, the maximum allowed length is 32,000 bytes. The value must be entered as a string value.

VARBINARY Example 
SELECT CAST ('help' as VARBINARY)
-- aGVscA==

Boolean Data Type​

BOOLEAN​

  • The supported values for BOOLEAN include true, false, and null.
  • Example: TRUE, FALSE, and NULL

Date & Time Data Types​

DATE​

  • A date value that enables you to calculate and store consistent information about the date of the events and transactions.

    note

    When using a string literal for the date, yyyy-mm-dd is the only supported format. To use a different format, use the TO_DATE() function.

  • Example: DATE ‘2000-01-01’

TIME​

  • Identifies the time of day, which enables you to calculate and store consistent information about the time of the events and transactions.

    note

    When using a string literal for the time, HH24:MI:SS.sss and HH24:MI:SS are the only supported formats. To use a different format, use the TO_TIME() function.

  • Examples:

    • TIME ‘17:30:50.235’
    • TIME ‘17:30:50’

TIMESTAMP​

  • Represents an absolute point in time with millisecond precision without a time zone. Timestamps are truncated to the nearest millisecond. For more information, see Time Zone Support.
  • Examples:
    • TIMESTAMP ‘2000-01-01 01:30:50’
    • TIMESTAMP ‘2000-01-01 17:30:50’
    • TIMESTAMP ‘2000-01-01 17:30:50.9’
    • TIMESTAMP ‘2000-01-01 17:30:50.12’
    • TIMESTAMP ‘2000-01-01 17:30:50.123’

INTERVAL​

  • Intervals are used to represent a measure of time. Dremio supports the two available types of intervals: year-month, which stores the year and month (YYYY-MM); and day-time (DD HH:MM:SS), which stores the days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

  • The following forms are supported:

    • DAY HOUR:MINUTE:SECOND:MILLISECOND - For example, INTERVAL '3' DAY
    • YEAR-MONTH - For example, INTERVAL '3' MONTH
    • YEAR-MONTH - For example, INTERVAL '1' YEAR
    • DAY - For example, INTERVAL '5' DAY
    • MINUTE - For example, INTERVAL '5' MINUTE
    • SECOND - For example, INTERVAL '5' SECOND
    • DAY TO HOUR - For example, INTERVAL '4 01' DAY TO HOUR
    • DAY TO MINUTE - For example, INTERVAL '4 01:01' DAY TO MINUTE
    • DAY TO SECOND - For example, INTERVAL '4 01:01:01' DAY TO SECOND
    • Examples:
      • INTERVAL ‘1 2:34:56.789’ DAY TO SECOND
      • INTERVAL ‘1-5’ YEAR TO MONTH

Semi-structured Data Types​

STRUCT​

  • Used to represent collections of key-value pairs. Keys are non-empty, case-insensitive strings, and values can be of any type. The example shows the required format for a query where the key (city) must be enclosed in [ ] and the column (address) is a STRUCT data type.

    note

    Dremio does not have STRUCT literals, but you can get the same result using CONVERT_FROM and JSON strings. For example:

    SELECT CONVERT_FROM('{"name":"Gnarly", "age":7, "car":null}', 'json')
    -- {"name:"Gnarly","age":7}

  • Example: SELECT address['city'] FROM customerTable

LIST​

  • Used to represent a list of arbitrary size, where the index is a non-negative integer and values can be of any single type. The example shows the required format for a query where the index (100) must be enclosed in [ ] and the column (OrderHistoryTable) is a LIST data type.

    note

    Dremio has LIST literals using the ARRAY keyword. For example:

    SELECT ARRAY[1, 2, 3];
    -- [1, 2, 3]

  • Example: SELECT customerOrders[100] FROM OrderHistoryTable

MAP​

  • The MAP type is a collection of key-value pairs. MAP keys are case-insensitive strings. All values in a given map have the same type. For example, map<string, int> represents a mapping where the keys are strings and the values are integers. To retrieve the value of a MAP element, use column['key']

    MAP Syntax 
    SELECT <column_name['<key_name>']> FROM <table_name>.

    For information about the SQL functions that are available for MAP expressions, see Datatype.

    note
    • If you have queried tables with MAP data using an earlier release of Dremio, you must run ALTER TABLE table_name FORGET METADATA on those tables so that Dremio knows they have MAP rather than STRUCT. Otherwise, Dremio will give an error prompting you to reformat your dataset.
    • MAP does not support null values.

  • Example: SELECT address['city'] FROM customerTable