Using LONG VARCHAR with Unicode Character Sets - Parallel Transporter

Teradata® Parallel Transporter Reference - 20.00

Deployment
VantageCloud
VantageCore
Edition
IntelliFlex
Lake
Enterprise
VMware
Product
Parallel Transporter
Release Number
20.00
Published
October 2023
ft:locale
en-US
ft:lastEdition
2023-12-06
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ogv1478610452101
lifecycle
latest
Product Category
Teradata Tools and Utilities

Teradata supports a column type of LONG VARCHAR. When dealing with single-byte character sets (both client session character set and server storage character set) a LONG VARCHAR is interpreted as VARCHAR(64000).

When processing the script and coming across a column of type LONG VARCHAR, Teradata PT interprets this column type as VARCHAR(64000). Since the column type is passed on to the operators, some jobs may not run properly.

Problems may arise when the server side storage character set is Unicode or when the LONG VARCHAR column type is used in a schema definition. This is because the combination of the client side session character set and the server storage character set can cause the LONG VARCHAR specification in a DML USING clause to mean something other than VARCHAR(64000).

In summary:

  • The use of LONG VARCHAR in a schema object definition is not recommended.
  • Do not use LONG VARCHAR with Unicode character sets. Instead, specify VARCHAR(64000).