VARIANT type
Applies to: 
Databricks Runtime 15.3 and later
Represents semi-structured data.
Syntax
VARIANT
Limits
The type supports storing any semi-structured data, including STRUCT, ARRAY, MAP, and scalar types.
VARIANT can only store MAP types with keys of type STRING.
Literals
See parse_json function function for details on creating a VARIANT value.
You can also use the CAST function to convert a literal of some type to VARIANT.
Notes
- To extract a value from a
VARIANTyou can use the- variant_get function using a JSON path expression to navigate into a complex type.
- : (colon sign) operator to parse the
VARIANTusing a JSON path expression. - try_variant_get function using a JSON path to navigate into a complex type with error toleration.
- cast function or :: (colon colon sign) operator to cast the
VARIANTto a specific type. - try_cast function to cast the
VARIANTto a specific type with error toleration.
- To inspect the type of a
VARIANTvalue, use the- schema_of_variant function for an individual value.
- schema_of_variant_agg aggregate function for a collection of values.
Examples
> SELECT parse_json('{"key": 123, "data": [4, 5, "str"]}');
{"data":[4,5,"str"],"key":123}
> SELECT parse_json(null);
null
> SELECT parse_json('123');
123
> SELECT CAST(123.456 AS VARIANT);
123.456