---
title: SQL data types
description: The InfluxDB SQL implementation supports a number of data types including 64-bit integers, double-precision floating point numbers, strings, and more.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/reference/sql/data-types/
estimated_tokens: 4242
product: InfluxDB Cloud Serverless
version: cloud-serverless
---

# SQL data types

InfluxDB Cloud Serverless uses the [Apache Arrow DataFusion](https://arrow.apache.org/datafusion/) implementation of SQL. Data types define the type of values that can be stored in table columns. In InfluxDB’s SQL implementation, a **measurement** is structured as a table, and **tags**, **fields** and **timestamps** are exposed as columns.

## SQL and Arrow data types

In SQL, each column, expression, and parameter has a data type. A data type is an attribute that specifies the type of data that the object can hold. DataFusion uses the [Arrow](https://arrow.apache.org/) type system for query execution. All SQL types are mapped to [Arrow data types](https://docs.rs/arrow/latest/arrow/datatypes/enum.DataType.html).

Both SQL and Arrow data types play an important role in how data is operated on during query execution and returned in query results.

When performing casting operations, cast to the SQL data type unless you use [`arrow_cast()`](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/reference/sql/functions/misc/#arrow_cast) to cast to a specific Arrow type. Names and identifiers in SQL are *case-insensitive* by default. For example:

```sql
SELECT
  '99'::BIGINT,
  '2019-09-18T00:00:00Z'::timestamp
```

-   [String types](#string-types)
-   [Numeric types](#numeric-types)
    -   [Integers](#integers)
    -   [Unsigned integers](#unsigned-integers)
    -   [Floats](#floats)
-   [Date and time data types](#date-and-time-data-types)
    -   [Timestamp](#timestamp)
    -   [Interval](#interval)
-   [Boolean types](#boolean-types)
-   [Unsupported SQL types](#unsupported-sql-types)
-   [Data types compatible with parameters](#data-types-compatible-with-parameters)

## String types

| SQL data type | Arrow data type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| STRING | UTF8 | Character string, variable-length |
| CHAR | UTF8 | Character string, fixed-length |
| VARCHAR | UTF8 | Character string, variable-length |
| TEXT | UTF8 | Variable unlimited length |

##### Example string literals

```sql
'abcdefghijk'
'time'
'h2o_temperature'
```

## Numeric types

The following numeric types are supported:

| SQL data type | Arrow data type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BIGINT | INT64 | 64-bit signed integer |
| BIGINT UNSIGNED | UINT64 | 64-bit unsigned integer |
| DOUBLE | FLOAT64 | 64-bit floating-point number (~15 digits) |
| FLOAT | FLOAT32 | 32-bit floating-point number (~7 digits) |
| REAL | FLOAT32 | 32-bit floating-point number (alias for FLOAT) |

### Integers

InfluxDB SQL supports the 64-bit signed integers:

**Minimum signed integer**: `-9223372036854775808` **Maximum signed integer**: `9223372036854775807`

##### Example integer literals

```sql
234
-446
5
```

### Unsigned integers

InfluxDB SQL supports the 64-bit unsigned integers:

**Minimum unsigned integer**: `0` **Maximum unsigned integer**: `18446744073709551615`

##### Example unsigned integer literals

Unsigned integer literals are comprised of an integer cast to the `BIGINT UNSIGNED` type:

```sql
234::BIGINT UNSIGNED
458374893::BIGINT UNSIGNED
5::BIGINT UNSIGNED
```

### Floats

InfluxDB SQL supports both 32-bit (single precision) and 64-bit (double precision) floating-point values.

| Type | Precision | Significant Digits | Use Case |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FLOAT | 32-bit | ~7 digits | Memory-efficient storage when full precision isn’t needed |
| DOUBLE | 64-bit | ~15-16 digits | Default for most numeric operations |

InfluxDB stores float field values as 64-bit (FLOAT64) internally. Casting to FLOAT (32-bit) may lose precision for values with more than ~7 significant digits. Unlike PostgreSQL where FLOAT defaults to double precision, InfluxDB SQL treats FLOAT as single precision (32-bit).

##### Example float literals

Float literals are stored as 64-bit double precision:

```sql
23.8
-446.89
5.00
0.033
```

##### Example float casting

```sql
-- Cast to 32-bit float (may lose precision)
SELECT 3.141592653589793::FLOAT;
-- Returns: 3.1415927 (truncated to ~7 digits)

-- Cast to 64-bit double (preserves precision)
SELECT 3.141592653589793::DOUBLE;
-- Returns: 3.141592653589793
```

## Date and time data types

InfluxDB SQL supports the following DATE/TIME data types:

| SQL data type | Arrow data type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| TIMESTAMP | Timestamp(Nanosecond, None) | Nanosecond timestamp with no time zone offset |
| INTERVAL | Interval(IntervalMonthDayNano) | Interval of time with a specified duration |

### Timestamp

A time type is a single point in time using nanosecond precision.

The following date and time formats are supported:

```sql
YYYY-MM-DDT00:00:00.000Z
YYYY-MM-DDT00:00:00.000-00:00
YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00.000-00:00
YYYY-MM-DDT00:00:00Z
YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00.000
YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00
```

##### Example timestamp literals

```sql
'2023-01-02T03:04:06.000Z'
'2023-01-02T03:04:06.000-00:00'
'2023-01-02 03:04:06.000-00:00'
'2023-01-02T03:04:06Z'
'2023-01-02 03:04:06.000'
'2023-01-02 03:04:06'
```

### Interval

The INTERVAL data type can be used with the following precision:

-   nanosecond
-   microsecond
-   millisecond
-   second
-   minute
-   hour
-   day
-   week
-   month
-   year
-   century

##### Example interval literals

```sql
INTERVAL '10 minutes'
INTERVAL '1 year'
INTERVAL '2 days 1 hour 31 minutes'
```

## Boolean types

Booleans store TRUE or FALSE values.

| SQL data type | Arrow data type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BOOLEAN | Boolean | True or false values |

##### Example boolean literals

```sql
true
TRUE
false
FALSE
```

## Unsupported SQL types

The following SQL types are not currently supported:

-   UUID
-   BLOB
-   CLOB
-   BINARY
-   VARBINARY
-   REGCLASS
-   NVARCHAR
-   CUSTOM
-   ARRAY
-   ENUM
-   SET
-   DATETIME
-   BYTEA

## Data types compatible with parameters

For information about data types that can be substituted by parameters, see how to [use parameterized queries with SQL](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/query-data/sql/parameterized-queries/).

#### Related

-   [Cast values to different types](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/query-data/sql/cast-types/)