CHAR Data Type Support
Versions 0.13 and later of Hive support the CHAR data type. This data type 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 whitespaces. Before you perform a
data migration to Hive, consult the following table to avoid unexpected behavior with values for CHAR, VARCHAR, and STRING data types.
The following table describes how several types of databases treat trailing whitespaces for the CHAR, VARCHAR, and STRING data types:
Table 2.5. Trailing Whitespace Characters on Various Databases
| Data Type | Hive | Oracle | SQL Server | MySQL | Teradata |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CHAR | Ignore | Ignore | Ignore | Ignore | Ignore |
VARCHAR | Compare | Compare | Configurable | Ignore | Ignore |
STRING | Compare | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |