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# PostgreSQL Data Types

**Summary**: in this tutorial, you will learn about **PostgreSQL data types** including Boolean, character, numeric, temporal, array, json, UUID, and special types.

## PostgreSQL Data TypesOverview of PostgreSQL data types

PostgreSQL supports the following data types:

- [Boolean](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-boolean)
- [Character](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-char-varchar-text) types such as [`char`, `varchar`, and `text`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-char-varchar-text).
- Numeric types such as integer and floating-point number.
- Temporal types such as [date](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-date), [time](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-time), [timestamp](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-timestamp), and [interval](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-interval)
- [UUID](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-uuid) for storing Universally Unique Identifiers
- [Array](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-array) for storing array strings, numbers, etc.
- [JSON](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-json) stores JSON data
- [hstore](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-hstore) stores key-value pair
- Special types such as network address and geometric data.

## Boolean

A [Boolean](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-boolean) data type can hold one of three possible values: true, false, or null. You use `boolean` or `bool` keyword to declare a column with the Boolean data type.

When you [insert data](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-insert) into a Boolean column, PostgreSQL converts it to a Boolean value

- `1`, `yes`, `y`, `t`, `true` values are converted to `true`
- `0`, `no`, `false`, `f` values are converted to `false`.

When you [select data](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-select) from a Boolean column, PostgreSQL converts the values back e.g., `t` to true, `f` to `false` and `space` to `null`.

## Character

PostgreSQL provides three [character data types](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-char-varchar-text): `CHAR(n)`, `VARCHAR(n)`, and `TEXT`

- `CHAR(n)` is the fixed-length character with space padded. If you insert a string that is shorter than the length of the column, PostgreSQL pads spaces. If you insert a string that is longer than the length of the column, PostgreSQL will issue an error.
- `VARCHAR(n)` is the variable-length character string. The `VARCHAR(n)` allows you to store up to `n` characters. PostgreSQL does not pad spaces when the stored string is shorter than the length of the column.
- `TEXT` is the variable-length character string. Theoretically, text data is a character string with unlimited length.

## Numeric

PostgreSQL provides two distinct types of numbers:

- [integers](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-integer)
- floating-point numbers

### Integer

There are three kinds of integers in PostgreSQL:

- Small integer ( `SMALLINT`) is a 2-byte signed integer that has a range from -32,768 to 32,767.
- Integer ( `INT`) is a 4-byte integer that has a range from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.
- [Serial](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-serial) is the same as integer except that PostgreSQL will automatically generate and populate values into the `SERIAL` column. This is similar to [`AUTO_INCREMENT`](https://www.mysqltutorial.org/mysql-basics/mysql-auto_increment/) column in MySQL or [`AUTOINCREMENT`](http://www.sqlitetutorial.net/sqlite-autoincrement/) column in SQLite.

### Floating-point number

There are three main types of floating-point numbers:

- `float(n)`  is a floating-point number whose precision, is at least, n, up to a maximum of 8 bytes.
- `real`or `float8`is a 4-byte floating-point number.
- [`numeric`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-numeric)or `numeric(p,s)` is a real number with p digits with s number after the decimal point. This `numeric(p,s)` is the exact number.

## Temporal data types

The temporal data types allow you to store date and /or time data. PostgreSQL has five main temporal data types:

- [`DATE`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-date) stores the dates only.
- [`TIME`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-time) stores the time of day values.
- [`TIMESTAMP`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-timestamp) stores both date and time values.
- [`TIMESTAMPTZ`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-timestamp) is a timezone-aware timestamp data type. It is the abbreviation for [timestamp](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-timestamp) with the time zone.
- [`INTERVAL`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-interval) stores periods.

The `TIMESTAMPTZ` is PostgreSQL's extension to the SQL standard's temporal data types.

## Arrays

In PostgreSQL, you can store an [array](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-array) of strings, an array of integers, etc., in array columns. The array comes in handy in some situations e.g., storing days of the week, and months of the year.

## JSON

PostgreSQL provides two JSON data types: [`JSON`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-json) and `JSONB` for storing JSON data.

The `JSON` data type stores plain JSON data that requires reparsing for each processing, while `JSONB` data type stores `JSON` data in a binary format which is faster to process but slower to insert. In addition, `JSONB` supports indexing, which can be an advantage.

## UUID

The `UUID` data type allows you to store Universal Unique Identifiers defined by [RFC 4122](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122 "UUID") . The `UUID` values guarantee a better uniqueness than [`SERIAL`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-serial) and can be used to hide sensitive data exposed to the public such as values of `id` in URL.

## Special data types

Besides the primitive data types, PostgreSQL also provides several special data types related to geometry and network.

- `box` – a rectangular box.
- `line`– a set of points.
- `point` – a geometric pair of numbers.
- `lseg` – a line segment.
- `polygon` – a closed geometric.
- `inet` – an IP4 address.
- `macaddr`– a MAC address.

In this tutorial, we have introduced you to the PostgreSQL data types so that you can use them to create tables in the next tutorial.

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## Related docs (Managing Tables)

- [Create Table](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-create-table)
- [Select Into](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-select-into)
- [Create Table As](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-create-table-as)
- [SERIAL](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-serial)
- [Sequences](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-sequences)
- [Identity Column](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-identity-column)
- [Generated Columns](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-generated-columns)
- [Alter Table](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-alter-table)
- [Rename Table](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-rename-table)
- [Add Column](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-add-column)
- [Drop Column](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-drop-column)
- [Change Column's Data Type](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-change-column-type)
- [Rename Column](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-rename-column)
- [Drop Table](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-drop-table)
- [Temporary Table](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-temporary-table)
- [Truncate Table](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-truncate-table)
- [Copy Table](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-copy-table)