IBM PureData System for Analytics, Version 7.1

Data types

A data type represents a set of values. Using data types in your databases offers the following benefits:

Consistent results
Having columns of a uniform type produces consistent results. Database operations, such as displaying, sorting, aggregating, and joining, produce consistent results. There is no conflict over how different types are compared or displayed.
Data validation
Having columns of a uniform type ensures that only properly formatted data is entered.
Compact storage
Having columns of uniform type ensures that data is stored efficiently. The system does not need to allocate more storage than necessary.
Performance
Having columns of uniform type allows the system to process the queries efficiently.

Each column in a relational database can hold only one type of data. You cannot mix data types within a column.

This section describes the data types that IBM® Netezza® SQL supports. It notes type alias where they are available. The first type name that is listed is the preferred form and is the form that the Netezza SQL saves with the table definition. The type alias is not saved with the table definition.