7. Hive 0.13 Feature: CHAR Data Type Support

Hive 0.13 supports the CHAR data type, which greatly simplifies the process of migrating data from other databases. Hive ignores trailing whitespace characters for the CHAR data type. However, there is no consensus among database vendors on the handling of trailing white spaces. Users performing data migration to Hive are encouraged to consult the following table before performing the migration to avoid unexpected behavior with values for CHAR, VARCHAR, and STRING data types.

The following table describes how several databases treat trailing white spaces for the CHAR, VARCHAR, and STRING data types:

 

Table 2.5. Trailing Whitespace Characters on Various Databases

Data TypeHiveOracleSQL ServerMySQLTeradata

CHAR

Ignore

Ignore

Ignore

Ignore

Ignore

VARCHAR

Compare

Compare

Configurable

Ignore

Ignore

STRING

Compare

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A