Data types

The type system is derived from Java types.

Type Name	Storage bits	Nullable	Description
boolean	1	No	Boolean true or false.
byte	8	No	Signed integer -128 to 127.
short	16	No	Signed integer -32768 to 32767.
char	16	Yes	unicode character.
int	32	Yes	Signed integer 0x80000000 to 0x7fffffff.
float	32	Yes	Single precision IEEE 754 floating point value.
symbol	32	Yes	Symbols are stored as 32-bit signed indexes from symbol table. Each index will have a corresponding string value. Translation from index to string value is done automatically when data is being written or read. Symbol table is stored separately from column.
string	32+n*16	Yes	Length-prefixed sequence of UTF-16 encoded characters whose length is stored as signed 32-bit integer with maximum value of 0x7fffffff.
long	64	Yes	Signed integer 0x8000000000000000L to 0x7fffffffffffffffL.
date	64	Yes	Signed offset in milliseconds from Unix Epoch.
timestamp	64	Yes	Signed offset in microseconds from Unix Epoch.
double	64	Yes	Double precision IEEE 754 floating point value.
binary	64+n*8	Yes	Length-prefixed sequence of bytes whose length is stored as signed 64-bit integer with maximum value of 0x7fffffffffffffffL.
long256	256	Yes	Unsigned 256-bit integer. Does not support arbitrary arithmetic operations, but only equality checks. Suitable for storing hash code, such as crypto public addresses.
geohash(<size>)	8-64	Yes	Geohash with precision specified as a number followed by b for bits, c for chars. See the geohashes documentation for details on use and storage.

Variable-sized type limitations

BINARY field size is limited either by 64-Bit signed int (8388608 peta bytes) or disk size, whichever is smaller.

STRING field size is limited by either 32-bit signed int (1073741824 characters) or disk size, whichever is smaller.

Type nullability

Nullable types use a specific value to mark NULL values:

Type Name	Null value	Description
float	NaN	As defined by IEEE 754 (java.lang.Float.NaN).
double	NaN	As defined by IEEE 754 (java.lang.Double.NaN).
long256	0x8000000000000000L	x4, four consecutive long null values.
long	0x8000000000000000L	Minimum possible value a long can take -2^63.
date	0x8000000000000000L	Minimum possible value a long can take -2^63.
timestamp	0x8000000000000000L	Minimum possible value a long can take -2^63.
int	0x80000000	Minimum possible value an int can take, -2^31.
char	0x0000	0.
geohash(byte)	0xff	Geohashes from 1 up to included 7 bits.
geohash(short)	0xffff	Geohashes from 8 up to included 15 bits.
geohash(int)	0xffffffff	Geohashes from 16 up to included 31 bits.
geohash(long)	0xffffffffffffffff	Geohashes from 32 up to included 60 bits.
symbol	0x80000000	Symbols are stored as int offsets in a lookup file.
string	0xffffffff	Strings are length prefixed, the length is an int and -1 marks it NULL (no further storage is used).
binary	0xffffffffffffffff	Binary columns are also length prefixed, the length is a long and -1 marks it NULL (no further storage is used).

To filter columns that contain, or don't contain, NULL values use a filter like:

SELECT * FROM <table> WHERE <column> = NULL;

SELECT * FROM <table> WHERE <column> != NULL;

Alternatively, from version 6.3 use the NULL equality operator aliases:

SELECT * FROM <table> WHERE <column> IS NULL;

SELECT * FROM <table> WHERE <column> IS NOT NULL;

note

NULL values still occupy disk space.