Data types:anchor-concept_gp3_rj5_dgb:

Technically, a constant always contains a data type. In the literal expression, we only specify the value. The data type can be inferred from the value (for example string, integer, decimal, etc.). For specific cases such as date time, we use dedicated functions for the representation.

The sections below provide information on the different data type expressions and how they are represented.

string

Description

Common sequence of characters. It doesn’t have any specific size except the implicit one that comes from the environment such as the amount of memory available.

JSON format: String

Serialization format: UTF-8

Literal representation

"<value>"
'<value>'

Example

"hello world"
'hello world'

integer

Description

Integer value from -2^63 to 2^63-1.

JSON format: Number

Literal representation

<integer value>

Example

42

decimal

Description

Decimal number. It represents a floating value:

  • largest positive finite value of type double, (2-2 -52)x2 1023
  • smallest positive normal value of type double, 2-1022
  • smallest positive nonzero value of type double, 2 p-1074

JSON format: Number

Serialization format: using ‘.’ as the decimal separator.

Literal representation

<integer value>.<integer value>

Example

3.14

boolean

Description

Boolean value written lowercase: true or false

JSON format: Boolean

Literal representation

true
false

Example

true

dateOnly 

Description

Represents a date only without a time zone, viewed as a year-month-day.

It is a description of the date, as used for birthdays.

JSON format: String.

Format is: YYYY-MM-DD (ISO-8601), for example: “2021-03-11”.

It can be encapsulated in a toDateOnly function.

It uses DateTimeFormatter ISO_LOCAL_DATE_TIME to deserialize and serialize the value. Learn more

Literal representation

date("<dateOnly in ISO-8601 format>")

Example

date("2021-02-19")

dateTimeOnly 

Description

Represents a date time without a time zone, viewed as year-month-day-hour-minute-second-millisecond.

JSON format: String.

It does not store or represent a time zone. Instead, it is a description of the date, as used for birthdays, combined with the local time as seen on a wall clock.

It cannot represent an instant on the time-line without additional information such as an offset or time zone.

It can be encapsulated in a toDateTimeOnly function.

Serialization format: ISO-8601 extended offset date-time format.

It uses DateTimeFormatter ISO_LOCAL_DATE_TIME to deserialize and serialize the value. Learn more

Literal representation

date("<dateTimeOnly in ISO-8601 format>")

Examples

date("2021-02-19T00.00.000")
date("2021-02-19T00.00")

dateTime

Description

Date time constant that also considers time zone. It represents a date-time with an offset from UTC.

It can be viewed as an instant in time with the additional information of the offset. It is a way to represent a specific “moment” at a certain place of the world.

JSON format: String.

It can be encapsulated in a toDateTime function.

Serialization format: ISO-8601 extended offset date-time format.

It uses DateTimeFormatter ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME to deserialize and serialize the value. Learn more

You can also pass an integer passing an epoch value. Read more

Time zone can be specified by an offset or a time zone code (example: Europe/Paris, Z - meaning UTC).

Literal representation

toDateTime("<dateTime in ISO-8601 format>")
date("<dateTime in ISO-8601 format>")
toDateTime(<integer value of an epoch in milliseconds>)

Examples

date("2021-02-19T00.00.000Z")
toDateTime("1977-04-22T06:00:00Z")
toDateTime("2011-12-03T15:15:30Z")
toDateTime("2011-12-03T15:15:30.123Z")
toDateTime("2011-12-03T15:15:30.123+02:00")
toDateTime("2011-12-03T15:15:30.123-00:20")
toDateTime(1560762190189)

duration

Description

It represents a time-based amount of time, such as ‘34.5 seconds’. It models a quantity or amount of time in terms of milliseconds.

The supported temporal units are: milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days where a day equals to 24 hours. Years and months are not supported since they’re not a fixed amount of time.

JSON format: String.

It must be encapsulated in a toDuration function.

Serialization format: To deserialize a time zone ID, it uses the java function java.time.

Duration.parse: the formats accepted are based on the ISO-8601 duration format PnDTnHnMn.nS with days considered to be exactly 24 hours. Learn more

Literal representation

toDuration("<duration in ISO-8601 format>")
toDuration(<duration in milliseconds>)

Example

toDuration("PT5S") -- parses as 5 seconds
toDuration(500) -- parses as 500ms
toDuration("PT20.345S") -- parses as "20.345 seconds"
toDuration("PT15M") -- parses as "15 minutes" (where a minute is 60 seconds)
toDuration("PT10H")  -- parses as "10 hours" (where an hour is 3600 seconds)
toDuration("P2D") -- parses as "2 days" (where a day is 24 hours or 86400 seconds)
toDuration("P2DT3H4M") -- parses as "2 days, 3 hours and 4 minutes"
toDuration("P-6H3M") -- parses as "-6 hours and +3 minutes"
toDuration("-P6H3M") -- parses as "-6 hours and -3 minutes"
toDuration("-P-6H+3M") -- parses as "+6 hours and -3 minutes"

list

Description

Comma separated list of expressions using square brackets as delimiters.

Polymorphism is not supported, hence all the expressions contained in the list should have the same type.

Literal representation

[<expression>, <expression>, ... ]

Example

["value1","value2"]
[3,5]
[toDuration(500),toDuration(800)]
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