Hive Data Types: A Comprehensive Guide
Explore the diverse data types supported by Hive, the data warehouse system built on Hadoop. This comprehensive guide helps you choose the right data type for efficient storage, processing, and query optimization.
Hive Data Types: A Comprehensive Guide
Hive, a data warehouse system built on top of Hadoop, supports various data types for storing and managing data. Choosing the right data type is very important for efficient data storage and processing. Understanding Hive's data types is crucial for effective data modeling and query optimization. This guide provides a detailed overview of Hive's data types.
Integer Types
| Type | Size (Bytes) | Range |
|---|---|---|
| TINYINT | 1 | -128 to 127 |
| SMALLINT | 2 | -32,768 to 32,767 |
| INT | 4 | -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 |
| BIGINT | 8 | -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 |
Decimal Types
| Type | Size (Bytes) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| FLOAT | 4 | Single-precision floating-point number. |
| DOUBLE | 8 | Double-precision floating-point number. |
Date and Time Types
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| TIMESTAMP | Unix timestamp (seconds since epoch), optionally with nanosecond precision. Can be stored as integer or floating-point numbers, or a string in the format "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.fffffffff". |
| DATE | Date (YYYY-MM-DD). Range: 0000-01-01 to 9999-12-31. |
String Types
| Type | Description | Size Limit |
|---|---|---|
| STRING | Variable-length string. | 65,535 characters |
| VARCHAR | Variable-length string. | 1 to 65,535 characters |
| CHAR | Fixed-length string. | 1 to 255 characters |
Complex Types
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| STRUCT | Similar to a C struct or a JSON object. | STRUCT('Alice', 'Smith') |
| MAP | Key-value pairs. | MAP('firstName', 'Alice', 'lastName', 'Smith') |
| ARRAY | Ordered list of values of the same type. | ARRAY('Alice', 'Bob', 'Charlie') |