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use_variant_* session settings

These settings are available in system.settings and are autogenerated from source.

use_variant_as_common_type

Type
Bool
Default
1
Version history
VersionDefault valueComment
26.11Improves usability.
24.10Allow to use Variant in if/multiIf if there is no common type

Allows to use Variant type as a result type for if/multiIf/array/map functions when there is no common type for argument types.

Example:

SET use_variant_as_common_type = 1;
SELECT toTypeName(if(number % 2, number, range(number))) as variant_type FROM numbers(1);
SELECT if(number % 2, number, range(number)) as variant FROM numbers(5);
┌─variant_type───────────────────┐
│ Variant(Array(UInt64), UInt64) │
└────────────────────────────────┘
┌─variant───┐
│ []        │
│ 1         │
│ [0,1]     │
│ 3         │
│ [0,1,2,3] │
└───────────┘
SET use_variant_as_common_type = 1;
SELECT toTypeName(multiIf((number % 4) = 0, 42, (number % 4) = 1, [1, 2, 3], (number % 4) = 2, 'Hello, World!', NULL)) AS variant_type FROM numbers(1);
SELECT multiIf((number % 4) = 0, 42, (number % 4) = 1, [1, 2, 3], (number % 4) = 2, 'Hello, World!', NULL) AS variant FROM numbers(4);
─variant_type─────────────────────────┐
│ Variant(Array(UInt8), String, UInt8) │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─variant───────┐
│ 42            │
│ [1,2,3]       │
│ Hello, World! │
│ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │
└───────────────┘
SET use_variant_as_common_type = 1;
SELECT toTypeName(array(range(number), number, 'str_' || toString(number))) as array_of_variants_type from numbers(1);
SELECT array(range(number), number, 'str_' || toString(number)) as array_of_variants FROM numbers(3);
┌─array_of_variants_type────────────────────────┐
│ Array(Variant(Array(UInt64), String, UInt64)) │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─array_of_variants─┐
│ [[],0,'str_0']    │
│ [[0],1,'str_1']   │
│ [[0,1],2,'str_2'] │
└───────────────────┘
SET use_variant_as_common_type = 1;
SELECT toTypeName(map('a', range(number), 'b', number, 'c', 'str_' || toString(number))) as map_of_variants_type from numbers(1);
SELECT map('a', range(number), 'b', number, 'c', 'str_' || toString(number)) as map_of_variants FROM numbers(3);
┌─map_of_variants_type────────────────────────────────┐
│ Map(String, Variant(Array(UInt64), String, UInt64)) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─map_of_variants───────────────┐
│ {'a':[],'b':0,'c':'str_0'}    │
│ {'a':[0],'b':1,'c':'str_1'}   │
│ {'a':[0,1],'b':2,'c':'str_2'} │
└───────────────────────────────┘

use_variant_default_implementation_for_comparisons

Type
Bool
Default
1
Version history
VersionDefault valueComment
26.11Enable default implementation for Variant type in comparison functions

Enables or disables default implementation for Variant type in comparison functions.

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