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AWS Documentation » Amazon Athena » User Guide » DDL and SQL Reference » Data Types

Data Types

When you run CREATE TABLE, you must specify column names and their data types. For a complete syntax of this command, see CREATE TABLE.

List of Supported Data Types in Athena

Athena supports the following data types:

  • BOOLEAN. Values are true and false.

  • Integer types

    • TINYINT. A 8-bit signed INTEGER in two’s complement format, with a minimum value of -2^7 and a maximum value of 2^7-1.

    • SMALLINT. A 16-bit signed INTEGER in two’s complement format, with a minimum value of -2^15 and a maximum value of 2^15-1.

    • INT. Athena combines two different implementations of the INTEGER data type. In Data Definition Language (DDL) queries, Athena uses the INT data type. In all other queries, Athena uses the INTEGER data type, where INTEGER is represented as a 32-bit signed value in two's complement format, with a minimum value of-2^31 and a maximum value of 2^31-1. In the JDBC driver, INTEGER is returned, to ensure compatibility with business analytics applications.

    • BIGINT.A 64-bit signed INTEGER in two’s complement format, with a minimum value of -2^63 and a maximum value of 2^63-1.

  • Floating-point types

    • DOUBLE

    • FLOAT

  • Fixed precision type

    • DECIMAL [ (precision, scale) ], where precision is the total number of digits, and scale (optional) is the number of digits in fractional part, the default is 0. For example, use these type definitions: DECIMAL(11,5), DECIMAL(15).

      To specify decimal values as literals, such as when selecting rows with a specific decimal value in a query DDL expression, specify the DECIMAL type definition, and list the decimal value as a literal (in single quotes) in your query, as in this example: decimal_value = DECIMAL '0.12'.

  • String types

    • CHAR. Fixed length character data, with a specified length between 1 and 255, such as char(10). For more information, see CHAR Hive Data Type.

    • VARCHAR. Variable length character data, with a specified length between 1 and 65535, such as varchar(10). For more information, see VARCHAR Hive Data Type.

  • BINARY (for data in Parquet)

  • Date and time types

    • DATE, in the UNIX format, such as YYYY-MM-DD.

    • TIMESTAMP. Instant in time and date in the UNiX format, such as yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss[.f...]. For example, TIMESTAMP '2008-09-15 03:04:05.324'. This format uses the session time zone.

  • Structural types

    • ARRAY < data_type >

    • MAP < primitive_type, data_type >

    • STRUCT < col_name : data_type [COMMENT col_comment] [, ...] >

For information about supported data type mappings between types in Athena, the JDBC driver, and Java data types, see the "Data Types" section in the JDBC Driver Installation and Configuration Guide.