Text

The text data type (text) is used to represent values that contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, spaces, and symbols.

Columns of type text can store information such as:
  • Customer IDs (9a90e2f6)
  • Product names (GARLIC GUACAMOLE ZESTY)
  • Sizes (500 ML)
  • Geographic locations (Boulder, CO)
Columns of type text may have values that appear to be integers, decimals, or big integers. It may be difficult to distinguish these values from other numeric values in columns of type decimal or type integer. Text type values cannot be summed (via a quick summary) or added to another column (using a computed column ). There are some numeric values that should be stored in columns of type text. For example:
  • Social security numbers
  • Zip codes (00616)
  • SKUs (94873)

These numeric values are not added together, are not added to other values, and may begin with a 0, which would be removed in an integer, decimal, or big integer column, even though it is a valid and necessary part of that value.

Columns of type integer, decimal, or big integer should be used when mathematical functions need to be performed on the numeric values.

In some places in the 1010data Insights platform, the text data type (text) is also represented as a or alpha.