Data Types in BigQuery
BigQuery supports all common data types found in Standard SQL. Google Cloud has verbose documentation, but here it is presented short and sweet:
Most Common
| Name | Description | Storage Size | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| INT64 (Integer) |
A whole number that is not a fraction. | 8 bytes | Range from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 |
| NUMERIC | A number with 38 digits of precision, 9 of which can be after the decimal point. | 16 bytes | Range from -99999999999999999999999999999.999999999 to 99999999999999999999999999999.999999999 |
| FLOAT64 (Float) |
Double precision (approximate) decimal values. | 8 bytes | Wikipedia will take this one. |
| BOOL (Boolean) |
Represented by keywords TRUE and FALSE | Case insensitive so TRUE or false will work. |
|
| STRING | Variable-length character (Unicode) data. | Must be quoted with either single (') or double (") quotation marks. Alternatively, can be triple-quoted with groups of three single (''') or three double (""") quotation marks. | |
| BYTES | Variable-length binary data. | Not to be used interchangeably with STRING. BYTES operates on raw bytes rather than Unicode characters. |
|
| ARRAY | Ordered list of zero or more elements of any non-ARRAY type. |
Time Data Types
| Name | Description | Canonical Format | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| DATE | Represents a logical calendar date, without time. | YYYY-[M]M-[D]D |
Range from 0001-01-01 to 9999-12-31 |
| TIME | Represents a time, independent of a specific date. | [H]H:[M]M:[S]S[.DDDDDD] |
Range from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59.999999 |
| DATETIME | Represents a year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and subsecond without a timezone. † | YYYY-[M]M-[D]D[(|T)[H]H:[M]M:[S]S[.DDDDDD]] |
Range from 0001-01-01 00:00:00 to 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999 |
| TIMESTAMP | Represents an absolute point in time, with microsecond precision with a timezone. | YYYY-[M]M-[D]D[( |T)[H]H:[M]M:[S]S[.DDDDDD]][time zone] |
Range from 0001-01-01 00:00:00 to 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999 |
† DATETIME is seldom used, as it's rare to wish to omit the timezone.
How to read Canonical Format:
YYYY: Four-digit year[M]M: One or two digit month[D]D: One or two digit day( |T): A space or aTseparator[H]H: One or two digit hour (valid values from 00 to 23)[M]M: One or two digit minutes (valid values from 00 to 59)[S]S: One or two digit seconds (valid values from 00 to 59)[.DDDDDD]: Up to six fractional digits (microsecond precision)[time zone]: String representing the time zone, with two canonical formats:- Time zone name per the tz database
- Offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or the letter Z for UTC
Less Common
| Name | Description | Note |
|---|---|---|
| STRUCT | A container of ordered fields, each with a type (required) and field name (optional). | Learn more about STRUCT |
| GEOGRAPHY | A collection of points, lines, and polygons, which is represented as a point set, or a subset of the surface of the Earth. | Based on the Open Geospatial Consortium’s (OGC) Simple Features specification (SFS) |
