Python UDF data types
Python UDFs can use any standard Amazon Redshift data type for the input arguments and the function's return value. In addition to the standard data types, UDFs support the data type ANYELEMENT, which Amazon Redshift automatically converts to a standard data type based on the arguments supplied at runtime. Scalar UDFs can return a data type of ANYELEMENT. For more information, see ANYELEMENT data type.
During execution, Amazon Redshift converts the arguments from Amazon Redshift data types to Python data types for processing. It then converts the return value from the Python data type to the corresponding Amazon Redshift data type. For more information about Amazon Redshift data types, see Data types.
The following table maps Amazon Redshift data types to Python data types.
| Amazon Redshift data type | Python data type |
|---|---|
|
smallint integer bigint short long |
int |
decimal or numeric |
decimal |
|
double real |
float |
boolean |
bool |
char varchar |
string |
timestamp |
datetime |
ANYELEMENT data type
ANYELEMENT is a polymorphic data type. This means that if a function is declared using ANYELEMENT for an argument's data type, the function can accept any standard Amazon Redshift data type as input for that argument when the function is called. The ANYELEMENT argument is set to the data type actually passed to it when the function is called.
If a function uses multiple ANYELEMENT data types, they must all resolve to the same
actual data type when the function is called. All ANYELEMENT argument data types are set
to the actual data type of the first argument passed to an ANYELEMENT. For example, a
function declared as f_equal(anyelement, anyelement) will take any two
input values, so long as they are of the same data type.
If the return value of a function is declared as ANYELEMENT, at least one input argument must be ANYELEMENT. The actual data type for the return value is the same as the actual data type supplied for the ANYELEMENT input argument.
