Data types

The following list explains the terms or notation used in the Data types column of the schema views of the data dictionary.

Data type
Description
*
Signifies a nullable field.
text
Freeform text string (no character limit).
character varying (n)
Freeform text string with character limit.
character (n)
A fixed number of characters. If string length is less than this limit, then the string will be padded with spaces. May be just a single character.
smallint
16-bit signed integer (between -32,768 and 32,767).1
integer
32-bit signed integer (between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647).1
bigint
64-bit signed integer (between -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and 9,223,372,036,854,775,807, or -9.22×1018 to +9.22×1018).1
numeric
Arbitrary precision decimal real number. Can normally have any number of digits on either side of decimal point. In some cases an upper limit on the number of significant figures and/or decimal places may be imposed. Can be negative or positive.
double precision
IEEE 754 double-precision floating point number. Can have any number of digits on either side of decimal point, but only guarantees up to 15 significant figures in precision. Can be negative or positive.
boolean
Boolean value, either true or false.
uuid
Universally unique identifier. 128-bit binary digit string, normally printed in hyphenated hexadecimal. For example, 8bc50ac0-2d38-11e6-8ed0-3c15c2bcca04.
date
YYYY-MM-DD date only (no time-of-day).
timestamp
YYYY-MM-DD date plus HH:MM:SS.sss time-of-day (up to millisecond precision). For example, 2016-06-08 15:21:04.535.
timestamp with time zone
Like timestamp, but also includes a "+HH:MM" timezone offset.
1 In practice, most integer-based ID fields only use positive integers.