Every column in a table is associated with a name and data type. The data type tells Teradata how much physical storage to set aside for the column, as well as the form in which to store the data.
| Category | Data Type | Length(bytes) | Range of Values |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binary String | BYTE | fixed | Max 64,000 |
| Binary String | VARBYTE | Variable | Max 64,000 |
| Character String | CHAR | Fixed Format | 1-64,000 |
| Character String | VARCHAR | Variable | 1-64,000 |
| Character String | LONG VARCHAR | Variable | VARCHAR(32000) or VARCHAR(64000) depending on Teradata version |
| Date/Time | DATE | default format YYYY-MM-DD | Values for this type can range from 0001-01-01 through 9999-12-31. Stored internally as a numeric value and is displayed in a site-defined format |
| Date/Time | TIME | 6 or 8 | HHMMSS.nnnnnn or HHMMSS.nnnnnn+HHMM |
| Date/Time | TIMESTAMP | 10 or 12 | YYMMDDHHMMSS.nnnnnn or YYMMDDHHMMSS.nnnnnn +HHMM |
| Numeric | BYTEINT | 1 | -128 to +127 |
| Numeric | SMALLINT | 2 | -32768 to +32767 |
| Numeric | INTEGER | 4 | -2,147,483,648 to +2147,483,647 |
| Numeric | BIGINT | 8 | – 9,233,372,036,854,775,808 to +9,233,372,036,854,775,807 |
| Numeric | DECIMAL(n,m) | The range for precision is 1 through 18. | n is the total number of digits (precision). m is the number of digits to the right of the decimal point (scale). |
| Numeric | NUMERIC | 1-16 | |
| Numeric | FLOAT | 64-bit IEEE format | Values can range from approximately 2.226 x 10 -308 to 1.797 x 10308 |
| BINARY & LARGE OBJECT | BLOB | Binary | BLOB(n) where n <= 2097088000 (default) |
| BINARY & LARGE OBJECT | BYTE | Binary | BYTE(n) where n <= 64000, default is 1 |
| BINARY & LARGE OBJECT | VARBYTE | Binary | VARBYTE(n) where n <= 64000, where n needs to be specified |
| BINARY & LARGE OBJECT | GRAPHIC | CHARACTER | |
| BINARY & LARGE OBJECT | VARGRAPHIC | CHARACTER |
Most of the column data types are based on ANSI SQL. The examples of ones that are Teradata Extension
to ANSI SQL are:
- Byte, Varbyte
- Byteint
- Date
- LONG VARCHAR
- GRAPHIC, VARGRAPHIC and LONG VARGRAPHIC
- PERIOD