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3-Data types

The document outlines various data types used in databases, including numeric, character, date/time, boolean, and enumerated types, along with their storage requirements and descriptions. It details how to create, modify, and manage these data types, including constraints and default values. Additionally, it provides examples of SQL commands for altering tables, changing data types, and managing indexes.

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mthuramge99
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0 views

3-Data types

The document outlines various data types used in databases, including numeric, character, date/time, boolean, and enumerated types, along with their storage requirements and descriptions. It details how to create, modify, and manage these data types, including constraints and default values. Additionally, it provides examples of SQL commands for altering tables, changing data types, and managing indexes.

Uploaded by

mthuramge99
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data manipulation:

DATA TYPES
CONTENTS

The common data types are:


 Numeric type
 Character type
 Date / Time Type
 Boolean type
 Enumerated type
DATA TYPES

Name Storage Description


type
Smallint 2 bytes Small range integer
Integer 4 bytes Typical choice of
integer
BigInt 8 bytes Large range integer
Decimal Variable User specified
Numeric Variable User specified
Real 4 bytes Variable precision
Double precision 8 bytes Variable precision
Serial 4 bytes Auto incrementing
integer
Bigserial 8 bytes Large auto-
incrementing integer
INTEGER TYPES

 Smallint, Integer, BigInt store whole numbers, i.e. without


fractions

 Selection depends on range, storage size and performance

 Small integer if disk space is at a premium

 BigInt if the range of the integer type is insufficient. It is


faster.
PRECISION NUMBERS

 Arithmetic on numeric values is slow compared to integers


 For storage of monetary amount where precision is required
 Numeric is the total count of significant digits in whole
number, that is, both sides of the decimal point
 E.g. 235141 had a precision of 6 and a scale of 4
 Syntax is : numeric (precision, scale), that is, numeric(6,4)
 The precision must be positive
FLOATING TYPE

 REAL type has a range of at least 1E-37 (1x10-37) to 1E+37 (1x1037)


 Double precision has a range of 1E-307 (1x10-307) to 1E+307 (1x10308)
with a precision of at least 15 digits
 Values that are too large or too small will cause an error
 Numbers too close to zero that are not representable as distinct from
zero will cause an underflow error
SERIAL TYPES

 Serial and Bigserial are a notational convenience for creating


unique identifier columns (similar to AUTO-INCREMENT)
 CREATE TABLE tablename (colname SERIAL);
CHARACTER TYPES
 Character varying(n) and character(n), where n is a positive integer
 Both can store strings up to n characters (not bytes)
 An attempt to store a longer string into a column will result in an
error unless the excess characters are all spaces
 Varchar(n) alias for character varying(n)
 Char(n) alias for character(n)
 Character without length specifier is equivalent to character(1)
 If character varying is used without a length specifier, the type
accepts strings of any size

Name Description
Char varying(n), varchar(n) Variable length with limit
Character(n), char(n) Fixed length, blank padded
TEXT

Name Description
Text Variable unlimited length

 Text – stores strings of any length

 Storage requirements for short string (up to 126 bytes) is 1


byte plus the actual string which includes the space padding
in the case of character

 Longer strings have 4 bytes of overhead instead of 1


Date / TIME types

Timestamp without time 8 bytes Both date and time


zone
Timestamp with time zone 8 bytes Both date and time
Date 4 bytes Date (no time of day)
Time (without time zone) 8 bytes Time of day (no date 00:00:00)
Time (with time zone) 12 bytes Time of day only, with time zone (00:00:00
+ 1459)

Timestamp is equivalent to timestamp without time


BOOLEAN TYPE

 State True/False and unknown which is represented by SQL


 TRUE, ‘t’, ‘true’, ‘y’, ‘yes’, ‘on’, 1
 FALSE, ‘f’, ‘false’, ‘n’, ‘no’, ‘off’, ‘0’

 FOR EXAMPLE
 CREATE TABLE test1 (a Boolean, b text);
ENUMERATED TYPE
 Comprise a static, ordered set of values
 Enum type are created suing the CREATE TYPE command, e.g.

 CREATE TYPE mood AS ENUM (‘sad’, ‘ok’, ‘happy’);

 Once created, the enum type can be used in the table and function
definition much like any other type:

 CREATE TYPE mood AS ENUM (‘sad’, ‘ok’, happy’);


 CREATE TABLE person (
 Name text;
 Current_mood mood);
DEFAULT VALUES

 A column can be assigned a default value


 If no default value is declared explicitly, the default value is null

 CREATE TABLE product(


 Product_no integer,
 Name text
 Price numeric DEFAULT 9.99);
 To set a new default value for a column
 ALTER TABLE product ALTER COLUM price SET DEFAULT 10.89
 To remove any default value use
 ALTER TABLE product ALTER COLUM DROP DEFAULT
DATA CONSTRAINTS

 Limits the kind of data stored in a table


 E.g. column containing price should only accept a positive
number
 CREATE TABLE product (
 Price numeric DEFAULT 9.90 CHECK (price>0));
DATA CONSTRAINTS

 Adding constraints to existing field


 ALTER Table product ADD CHECK name <>’’);
 This ensures that the name field is not empty
 ALTER TABLE product ADD CONSTRAINT some_name UNIQUE
(product_no);
 This creates a constraint called some_name which ensures that
product_no fields are unique
 ALTER TABLE product ALTER COLUM product_no SET NOT NULL
 Product_no is not null
REMOVING A CONSTRAINT

 To remove a constraint you need to know its name

 ALTER TABLE product DROP constraint some-name;

 To drop the not null constraint

 ALTER TABLE product ALTER COLUM DROP NOT NULL;


CHANGING DATA TYPES
To convert a column to a different data type

ALTER TABLE products ALTER COLUMN price TYPE numeric (10,2);

To rename a column

ALTER TABLE product RENAME COLUM product_no TO product_number;

To add a column

ALTER TABLE product ADD COLUMN description text


ALTER TABLE name_of_table ADD COLUMN attribute datatype

Remove column
ALTER TABLE product DROP COLUMN description
CHANGING DATA TYPES

 To rename a table

 ALTER TABLE product RENAME to items;

 To give a constraint a separate name

 CREATE TABLE product(


 Price numeric DEFAULT 9.99 CONSTRAINT positive_price CHECK
(price>0);
CHANGING DATA TYPES

 INDEXES

 Maintaining an index of a particular column to make searching


easy e.g. product number of a product table

 To create an index on the product_id column:


 CREATE INDEX product_id_index ON product (product_id)
 When the table is modified the index is automatically updated

 To remove an index
 DROP INDEX product_id_index
CONCLUSION

The common data types are:


 Numeric type
 Character type
 Date / Time Type
 Boolean type
 Enumerated type

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