Teradata TPump 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 TPump table on the database.
For example, if an input field with numeric type data is targeted for a column with a character data type specification, Teradata TPump can change the input data specification to character before inserting it into the table.
The datadesc specification of the Teradata TPump FIELD command is used to convert input data to a different type before inserting it into a table on the database.
The types of data conversions which can be specified are:
- Numeric-to-numeric (for example integer-to-decimal)
- Character-to-numeric
- Character-to-date
- Date-to-character
Redundant conversions, such as integer-to-integer, are legal and necessary to support the zoned decimal format. For more information about the zoned decimal format, data types, and data conversions, see Teradata Vantage™ - Data Types and Literals, B035-1143.