Data Type Mapping

This table describes the data type mapping between Teradata and Exasol.

Teradata Exasol Comment
Numeric Data Types

BYTEINT

DECIMAL(9)  

SMALLINT

DECIMAL(9) or SMALLINT (Alias)

You can also use the alias SMALLINT in Exasol which is a DECIMAL(9)

INTEGER

DECIMAL(10) or INTEGER

You can also use the alias INTEGER in Exasol which is a DECIMAL(18)

BIGINT

DECIMAL(20) or BIGINT

You can also use the Alias BIGINT in Exasol which is a DECIMAL(36)

DECIMAL(p,s)

NUMERIC(p,s)

DEC(p,s)

 DECIMAL(p,s)

The maximum precision in Exasol is 36, but in Teradata is 38

NUMBER

DOUBLE PRECISION Possible loss in precision

NUMBER(p)

DECIMAL(p,s)  

NUMBER(p,s)

DECIMAL(p,s)  

FLOAT

REAL

DOUBLE PRECISION

 DOUBLE PRECISION  
Character Data Types

CHARACTER(n)

CHAR(n)

CHAR(n) if n <= 2000 VARCHAR(n) if n >2000

For Exasol, the maximum for n is 2,000. By default, Exasol stores data in UTF-8. For Teradata, the maximum n for LATIN is 64000, and for UNICODE, it is 32000

VARCHAR(n)

CHARACTER VARYING(n)

CHAR VARYING(n)

 VARCHAR(n)

The maximum n for Exasol 2,000,000, and Teradata is 64000 for LATIN and 32000 for UNICODE. By default, Exasol stores data in UTF-8

CLOB

VARCHAR(2000000)

Exasol can store a maximum of 2,000,000 characters versus Teradata, which can store a maximum of 2,097,088,000 characters in a CLOB

JSON

VARCHAR(2000000)  

XML

VARCHAR(2000000)  
Date and Time Data Types
DATE DATE  

TIME (without timezone)

TIMESTAMP

Exasol does not have a dedicated datatype for TIME, but you can convert it to a TIMESTAMP with a generic date
TIME WITH TIME ZONE TIMESTAMP

We recommend normalizing the timestamps to UTC in Exasol. Exasol also offers a TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE datatype, which interprets the input/output values (for example, while inserting data or querying the table) depending on the session time zone. Please be aware that this is different from the Teradata behavior, where each value stored may have a different time zone

TIMESTAMP

TIMESTAMP

The accuracy is limited to milliseconds

TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE

TIMESTAMP

We recommend normalizing the timestamps to UTC in Exasol. Exasol also offers a TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE datatype, which interprets the input/output values (for example, while inserting data or querying the table) depending on the session time zone. Please be aware that this is different from the Teradata behavior, where each value stored may have a different time zone

PERIOD(DATE)

DATE, DATE

Split the PERIOD into two separate columns for the beginning and end date

PERIOD(TIMESTAMP)

TIMESTAMP, TIMESTAMP

Split the PERIOD into two separate columns for the beginning and end timestamp

PERIOD(TIME)

TIMESTAMP, TIMESTAMP

Split the PERIOD into two separate columns for the beginning and end timestamp
Interval Data Types

INTERVAL YEAR

INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH  

INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH

INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH

 

INTERVAL DAY

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

 

INTERVAL DAY TO HOUR

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

 

INTERVAL DAY TO MINUTE

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND  

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

  

INTERVAL HOUR

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND  

INTERVAL HOUR TO MINUTE

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND  

INTERVAL HOUR TO SECOND

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND  

INTERVAL MINUTE

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

 

INTERVAL SECOND

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

 
Unsupported Data Types

BYTE

Not supported

Exasol does not support binary data

VARBYTE

Not supported

Exasol does not support binary data

BLOB

Not supported

Exasol does not support binary data

UDT

Depends on type of UDT

Distinct UDT Types, which are based on a single predefined data type (e.g., INTEGER or DECIMAL(m,n)), can be supported. More complex types can only be imported by transforming the UDT into a VARCHAR

ARRAY/VARRAY

VARCHAR(64000)

ARRAYs can be serialized during import and stored as a VARCHAR in Exasol. The upper limit is the maximum of 64000 characters for a VARCHAR in Teradata