Data Types

PostgreSQL 7.2 Documentation
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# Chapter 3. Data Types

PostgreSQL has a rich set of native data types available to users. Users may add new types to PostgreSQL using the CREATE TYPE command.

Table 3-1 shows all general-purpose data types included in the standard distribution. Most of the alternative names listed in the "Aliases" column are the names used internally by PostgreSQL for historical reasons. In addition, some internally used or deprecated types are available, but they are not listed here.

Table 3-1. Data Types

Type Name | Aliases | Description
--- | --- | ---
`bigint` | `int8` | signed eight-byte integer
`bigserial` | `serial8` | autoincrementing eight-byte integer
`bit` |  | fixed-length bit string
`bit varying(`n`)` | `varbit(`n`)` | variable-length bit string
`boolean` | `bool` | logical Boolean (true/false)
`box` |  | rectangular box in 2D plane
`bytea` |  | binary data
`character(`n`)` | `char(`n`)` | fixed-length character string
`character varying(`n`)` | `varchar(`n`)` | variable-length character string
`cidr` |  | IP network address
`circle` |  | circle in 2D plane
`date` |  | calendar date (year, month, day)
`double precision` | `float8` | double precision floating-point number
`inet` |  | IP host address
`integer` | `int`, `int4` | signed four-byte integer
`interval(`p`)` |  | general-use time span
`line` |  | infinite line in 2D plane
`lseg` |  | line segment in 2D plane
`macaddr` |  | MAC address
`money` |  | US-style currency
`numeric [ (`p`, `s`) ]` | `decimal [ (`p`, `s`) ]` | exact numeric with selectable precision
`oid` |  | object identifier
`path` |  | open and closed geometric path in 2D plane
`point` |  | geometric point in 2D plane
`polygon` |  | closed geometric path in 2D plane
`real` | `float4` | single precision floating-point number
`smallint` | `int2` | signed two-byte integer
`serial` | `serial4` | autoincrementing four-byte integer
`text` |  | variable-length character string
`time [ (`p`) ] [ without time zone ]` |  | time of day
`time [ (`p`) ] with time zone` | `timetz` | time of day, including time zone
`timestamp [ (`p`) ] without time zone` | `timestamp` | date and time
`timestamp [ (`p`) ] [ with time zone ]` | `timestamptz` | date and time, including time zone

> Compatibility: The following types (or spellings thereof) are specified by SQL: `bit`, `bit varying`, `boolean`, `char`, `character`, `character varying`, `varchar`, `date`, `double precision`, `integer`, `interval`, `numeric`, `decimal`, `real`, `smallint`, `time`, `timestamp` (both with or without time zone).

Each data type has an external representation determined by its input and output functions. Many of the built-in types have obvious external formats. However, several types are either unique to PostgreSQL, such as open and closed paths, or have several possibilities for formats, such as the date and time types. Most of the input and output functions corresponding to the base types (e.g., integers and floating-point numbers) do some error-checking. Some of the input and output functions are not invertible. That is, the result of an output function may lose precision when compared to the original input.

Some of the operators and functions (e.g., addition and multiplication) do not perform run-time error-checking in the interests of improving execution speed. On some systems, for example, the numeric operators for some data types may silently underflow or overflow.

# 3.1. Numeric Types

Numeric types consist of two-, four-, and eight-byte integers, four- and eight-byte floating-point numbers and fixed-precision decimals.

Table 3-2. Numeric Types

Type name | Storage size | Description | Range
--- | --- | --- | ---
`smallint` | 2 bytes | Fixed-precision | -32768 to +32767
`integer` | 4 bytes | Usual choice for fixed-precision | -2147483648 to +2147483647
`bigint` | 8 bytes | Very large range fixed-precision | -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807
`decimal` | variable | user-specified precision, exact | no limit
`numeric` | variable | user-specified precision, exact | no limit
`real` | 4 bytes | variable-precision, inexact | 6 decimal digits precision
`double precision` | 8 bytes | variable-precision, inexact | 15 decimal digits precision
`serial` | 4 bytes | autoincrementing integer | 1 to 2147483647
`bigserial` | 8 bytes | autoincrementing integer | 1 to 9223372036854775807

The syntax of constants for the numeric types is described in Section 1.1.2. The numeric types have a full set of corresponding arithmetic operators and functions. Refer to Chapter 4 for more information. The following sections describe the types in detail.

## 3.1.1. The Integer Types

The types `smallint`, `integer`, `bigint` store whole numbers, that is, numbers without fractional components, of various ranges. Attempts to store values outside of the allowed range will result in an error.

The type `integer` is the usual choice, as it offers the best balance between range, storage size, and performance. The `smallint` type is generally only used if disk space is at a premium. The `bigint` type should only be used if the `integer` range is not sufficient, because the latter is definitely faster.

The `bigint` type may not function correctly on all platforms, since it relies on compiler support for eight-byte integers. On a machine without such support, `bigint` acts the same as `integer` (but still takes up eight bytes of storage). However, we are not aware of any reasonable platform where this is actually the case.

SQL only specifies the integer types `integer` (or `int`) and `smallint`. The type `bigint`, and the type names `int2`, `int4`, and `int8` are extensions, which are shared with various other RDBMS products.

> Note: If you have a column of type `smallint` or `bigint` with an index, you may encounter problems getting the system to use that index. For instance, a clause of the form

>     ... WHERE smallint_column = 42

> will not use an index, because the system assigns type `integer` to the constant 42, and PostgreSQL currently cannot use an index when two different data types are involved. A workaround is to single-quote the constant, thus:

>     ... WHERE smallint_column = '42'

> This will cause the system to delay type resolution and will assign the right type to the constant.

## 3.1.2. Arbitrary Precision Numbers

The type `numeric` can store numbers of practically unlimited size and precision, while being able to store all numbers and carry out all calculations exactly. It is especially recommended for storing monetary amounts and other quantities where exactness is required. However, the `numeric` type is very slow compared to the floating-point types described in the next section.

In what follows we use these terms: The scale of a `numeric` is the count of decimal digits in the fractional part, to the right of the decimal point. The precision of a `numeric` is the total count of significant digits in the whole number, that is, the number of digits to both sides of the decimal point. So the number 23.5141 has a precision of 6 and a scale of 4. Integers can be considered to have a scale of zero.

Both the precision and the scale of the numeric type can be configured. To declare a column of type `numeric` use the syntax

    NUMERIC(precision, scale)

The precision must be positive, the scale zero or positive. Alternatively,

    NUMERIC(precision)

selects a scale of 0. Specifying

    NUMERIC

without any precision or scale creates a column in which numeric values of any precision and scale can be stored, up to the implementation limit on precision. A column of this kind will not coerce input values to any particular scale, whereas `numeric` columns with a declared scale will coerce input values to that scale. (The SQL standard requires a default scale of 0, i.e., coercion to integer accuracy. We find this a bit useless. If you're concerned about portability, always specify the precision and scale explicitly.)

If the precision or scale of a value is greater than the declared precision or scale of a column, the system will attempt to round the value. If the value cannot be rounded so as to satisfy the declared limits, an error is raised.

The types `decimal` and `numeric` are equivalent. Both types are part of the SQL standard.

## 3.1.3. Floating-Point Types

The data types `real` and `double precision` are inexact, variable-precision numeric types. In practice, these types are usually implementations of IEEE 754 binary floating point (single and double precision, respectively), to the extent that the underlying processor, operating system, and compiler support it.

Inexact means that some values cannot be converted exactly to the internal format and are stored as approximations, so that storing and printing back out a value may show slight discrepancies. Managing these errors and how they propagate through calculations is the subject of an entire branch of mathematics and computer science and will not be discussed further here, except for the following points:

- If you require exact storage and calculations (such as for monetary amounts), use the `numeric` type instead.

- If you want to do complicated calculations with these types for anything important, especially if you rely on certain behavior in boundary cases (infinity, underflow), you should evaluate the implementation carefully.

- Comparing two floating-point values for equality may or may not work as expected.

Normally, the `real` type has a range of at least -1E+37 to +1E+37 with a precision of at least 6 decimal digits. The `double precision` type normally has a range of around -1E+308 to +1E+308 with a precision of at least 15 digits. Values that are too large or too small will cause an error. Rounding may take place if the precision of an input number is too high. Numbers too close to zero that are not representable as distinct from zero will cause an underflow error.

## 3.1.4. The Serial Types

The `serial` data types are not truly types, but are a notational convenience for setting up unique identifier columns in tables. In the current implementation, specifying

    CREATE TABLE tablename (
        colname SERIAL
    );

is equivalent to specifying:

    CREATE SEQUENCE tablename_colname_seq;
    CREATE TABLE tablename (
        colname integer DEFAULT nextval('tablename_colname_seq') UNIQUE NOT NULL
    );

Thus, we have created an integer column and arranged for its default values to be assigned from a sequence generator. UNIQUE and NOT NULL constraints are applied to ensure that explicitly-inserted values will never be duplicates, either.

The type names `serial` and `serial4` are equivalent: both create `integer` columns. The type names `bigserial` and `serial8` work just the same way, except that they create a `bigint` column. `bigserial` should be used if you anticipate use of more than 231 identifiers over the lifetime of the table.

Implicit sequences supporting the `serial` types are not automatically dropped when a table containing a serial type is dropped. So, the following commands executed in order will likely fail:

    CREATE TABLE tablename (colname SERIAL);
    DROP TABLE tablename;
    CREATE TABLE tablename (colname SERIAL);

The sequence will remain in the database until explicitly dropped using DROP SEQUENCE. (This annoyance will probably be changed in some future release.)

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