Teradata FastLoad can redefine the data type specification of numeric, character, and date input data so it matches the type specification of its destination column in the Teradata FastLoad table on the database. If, for example, an input field with numeric type data is targeted for a column with a character data type specification, Teradata FastLoad can change the input data specification to character before inserting it into the table.
The types of data conversions which can be specified are as follows:
- Numeric-to-numeric (for example integer-to-decimal)
- Character-to-numeric
- Character-to-date
- Date-to-character
Redundant conversions, like integer-to-integer, are legal and necessary to support the zoned decimal format. For more information about the zoned decimal format, see Teradata Vantage™ - Database Design, B035-1094 and Teradata Vantage™ - Data Types and Literals, B035-1143.
Use the datatype specification of the DEFINE command to convert input data to a different type before inserting it into the Teradata FastLoad table on the database.
For more information on data types and data conversions, see Teradata Vantage™ - Data Types and Literals, B035-1143.