Data Types
Alteryx processes values based on data type. Alteryx supports string, numeric, date/time, and boolean data types, as well as, spatial objects.
The Select tool, or any tool that includes select functionality, can be used to modify the type of data in a column. See Select Tool, Append Fields Tool, Join Tool, Join Multiple Tool, Find Nearest Tool, Spatial Match Tool.
String Data
A string represents alphanumeric data and can include letters, numbers, spaces, or other types of characters. A string can also be thought of as plain text. All the characters in a string are processed as text even if the characters are digits.
While a string may contain text that looks like a number (for example, "123.4"), it must first be converted to a numeric data type (either with a Select Tool, or with the ToNumber Functions) to perform calculations.
It is more efficient to store strings as variable-length strings. This is because fixed-length strings reserve space for the specified number of characters; and variable-length strings use only the amount of storage needed for the data in that cell. Set a high limit for variable-length strings to avoid truncating data.
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| String | Fixed Length Latin-1 String. The length should be at least as large as the longest string you want contained in the field or values will be truncated. Limited to 8192 Latin-1 characters. | Any string whose length does not vary much from value to value, and only contains simple Latin-1 characters. |
| WString | Wide String will accept any character (Unicode). Limited to 8192 characters. | Any string whose length does not vary much from value to value and contains any character. |
| V_String | Variable Length. The length of the field will adjust to accommodate the entire string within the field. | Any string whose length varies from value to value, and only contains simple Latin-1 characters. |
| V_WString | Variable Length Wide String. The length of the field will adjust to accommodate the entire string within the field and will accept any character. |
Any string whose length varies from value to value and contains any character. |
Numeric Data
There are several different numeric data types including integers, decimals, floats, and doubles. With the exception of Fixed Decimal, numeric data types are not adjustable in length.
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Byte | A unit of data that is 8 binary digits (bits) long. A byte field is a positive whole number that falls within the range 0 thru 255, or 28 | 0, 1, 2, 3....253, 254, 255 |
| Int16 |
A numeric value without a decimal equal to 2 bytes, or -(215) to (215)-1 |
–32,768 to 32,767 |
| Int32 | A numeric value without a decimal equal to 4 bytes, or -(231) to (231)-1 | –2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 |
| Int64 | A numeric value without a decimal equal to 8 bytes, or -(263) to (263)-1 | –9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 |
| Fixed Decimal |
A numeric value with a decimal. The length (precision) of a fixed decimal is equal to the width of the integer (left side of decimal) plus the decimal point plus the width of the scale (right side of decimal). If a number is negative, the negative sign is also included in the length. Alteryx defaults a Fixed Decimal to 19.6. The maximum precision is 50, inclusive of the decimal point and negative sign (if applicable). A Fixed Decimal is the only numeric data type with an adjustable length. |
A value of 1234.567 with a length of 7.2 results in 1234.57 A value of 1234.567 with a length of 7.3 results in a field conversion error and Null output, as the value does not fit within the specified precision. A value of 1234.567 with a length of 6.1 results in 1234.6 A value of 1234.567 with a length of 8.3 results in 1234.567 A value of -1234.567 with a length of 8.3 results in a field conversion error and Null output, as the value does not fit within the specified precision. A value of 1234.567 with a length of 11.6 results in 1234.567000 |
|
Float |
A standard single precision floating point value. It uses 4 bytes, and can represent values from +/- 3.4 x 10-38 to 3.4 x 1038 with 7 digits of precision. A float uses a decimal that can be placed in any position and is mainly used to save memory in large arrays of floating point numbers. |
+/- 3.4 x 10-38 to 3.4 x 1038 with 7 digits precision |
| Double | A standard double precision floating point value. It uses 8 bytes, and can represent values from +/- 1.7 x 10-308 to 1.7 x 10308 with 15 digits precision. A double uses a decimal that can be placed in any position. A double uses twice as many bits as a float and is generally used as the default data type for decimal values. |
+/- 1.7 x 10-308 to 1.7 x 10308 with 15 digits |
Date/Time Data
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Date | A 10 character String in "yyyy-mm-dd" format | December 2, 2005 = 2005-12-02 |
| Time | A 8 character String in "hh:mm:ss" format |
2:47 and 53 seconds a.m. = 02:47:53 2:47 and 53 seconds p.m. = 14:47:53 |
| DateTime | A 19 character String in "yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss" format | 2005-12-02 14:47:53 |
Boolean Data
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Bool | An expression with only two possible values: True or False |
The words 'True' and 'False' display in the results where 'False' = 0 and 'True' = non-zero. |
Spatial Objects
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| SpatialObj | The spatial object associated with a data record. There can be multiple spatial object fields contained within a table. | A spatial object can consist of a point, line, polyline, or polygon. |