Informatica PowerCenter - Data types¶
Note
This reference applies to both output formats, dbt and Snowflake Scripting.
This page describes how Informatica PowerCenter data types are mapped to Snowflake data types. The mapping is the same regardless of the output format (dbt or Snowflake Scripting), because both produce the same Snowflake types.
Type mapping¶
The following type mappings are used:
| Informatica PowerCenter | Snowflake | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| string | VARCHAR | |
| nstring | VARCHAR | National strings map to VARCHAR, which stores Unicode in Snowflake. |
| text | TEXT | TEXT is a synonym for VARCHAR. |
| integer | NUMBER | |
| small integer | NUMBER | |
| bigint | NUMBER | Snowflake NUMBER covers the full Informatica integer range. |
| decimal | NUMBER | |
| double | FLOAT | |
| real | FLOAT | |
| date | DATE | |
| date/time | TIMESTAMP | |
| datetime | TIMESTAMP | |
| timestamp | TIMESTAMP | |
| time | TIME | |
| binary | BINARY | |
| varbinary | BINARY |
Default type¶
When a source type is not in the table above, it is mapped to VARCHAR. Review any such columns after migration to confirm VARCHAR is the correct type.
Precision and scale¶
For Informatica variable and parameter definitions, precision and scale are not carried over to the generated Snowflake type. For example, an Informatica decimal variable maps to NUMBER with Snowflake’s default precision and scale rather than to NUMBER(p, s). Set an explicit precision and scale in Snowflake where your data requires it.
Note
Snowflake NUMBER stores both integers and fixed-point decimals, so the Informatica integer types and decimal all map to NUMBER. The default is NUMBER(38, 0). See the Snowflake numeric data types reference for the full range.