Teradata: what Is The Difference Between CASESPECIFIC And NOT CASESPECIFIC Data Type Attributes? – You Won’t Believe How Easy It Is – 5 Mins!

Teradata: What is the difference between CASESPECIFIC and NOT CASESPECIFIC data type attributes? - you won't believe how easy it is - 5 mins! Teradata Failure 7547 Target row updated by multiple source rows
Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash
Share this post and Earn Free Points!

In this tutorial" I will show you What is the difference between CASESPECIFIC and NOT CASESPECIFIC data type. When you create tables, you can set a lot of data type attributes like CHARACTER SET, FORMAT, UPPERCASE or (NOT) CASESPECIFIC. CASESPECIFIC attribute specifies case for character data comparisons and collations. What does it mean? In this post I will show you on examples what means that your columns will be case specific or not.

Introduction

Teradata

Teradata is a company that provides data warehousing and analytic services. Teradata is a powerful solution for organisations that need to manage large amounts of data. Teradata can help organisations to make better decisions by providing insights into their data. Teradata can also help organisations to save money by reducing the need for manual data entry and data processing.

Here are some of the main advantages of using Teradata":

  1. Performance: Teradata is designed to handle large volumes of data and concurrent users efficiently, with features such as parallel processing, columnar storage, and indexing. This can make it ideal for applications that require fast query performance and high availability.
  2. Scalability: Teradata is highly scalable, with the ability to add more hardware and storage as needed to support growing data volumes and workloads. This can make it a good choice for organizations that need to store and process large amounts of data.
  3. Security: Teradata provides a range of security features to protect data and ensure compliance with regulations, including encryption, access control, and auditing.
  4. Integration: Teradata is compatible with a wide range of data sources and platforms, and it provides tools and APIs for integrating with other systems and applications.
  5. Support: Teradata provides extensive documentation, training, and support to help customers get the most out of their DBMS.

Check more information about Teradata in these articles!

Is Teradata Case Sensitive?

By default", the Teradata database" management system (DBMS) is case-sensitive for character strings. This means that it treats strings that differ only in their case as distinct values. For example, the strings ‘ABC’ and ‘abc’ would be considered different in a Teradata database".

However, you can use the NOT CASESPECIFIC keyword to specify that character string comparisons should be case-insensitive. This can be useful if you want to ignore the case of strings when comparing them in your queries.

Difference Between Oracle And Teradata

Oracle and Teradata" are both database management systems (DBMS) that are used to store, process, and analyze large amounts of data. While they have some similarities, they also have some important differences:

  • Ownership: Oracle is a proprietary DBMS developed and owned by Oracle" Corporation. Teradata is a proprietary DBMS developed and owned by Teradata Corporation.
  • Architecture: Oracle" is a relational DBMS, which means it stores data in tables that are related to each other through key values. Teradata is a hybrid DBMS that combines elements of both relational and massively parallel processing (MPP) architectures. This allows it to scale horizontally and process large amounts of data in parallel.
  • Performance: Both Oracle and Teradata" are designed to handle large volumes of data and concurrent users efficiently. However, Teradata is generally considered to be better suited for handling very large data volumes and high concurrency, due to its MPP architecture and other performance-enhancing features.
  • Integration: Oracle" is compatible with a wide range of platforms and data sources, and it provides tools and APIs for integrating with other systems and applications. Teradata also provides integration tools and support, but it may be slightly less versatile in this regard.
  • Cost: Oracle and Teradata" both have a range of products and pricing models, and the cost of implementing and using either DBMS will depend on the specific needs and resources of the organization. However, Teradata is generally considered to be more expensive than Oracle", due to its more advanced features and larger scale of deployment.
  • Support: Both Oracle and Teradata" offer extensive documentation, training, and support to help customers get the most out of their DBMS. However, Oracle" is a larger and more established company, with a longer history and a larger user" base, which may make it more widely supported and more familiar to some users.

Overall, Oracle and Teradata" are both powerful and reliable DBMSs that are widely used by organizations around the world. The choice between them will depend on the specific needs and resources of the organization, including the scale and complexity of the data, the performance and availability requirements, and the integration and support needs.

CASESPECIFIC and NOT CASESPECIFIC In Taradata

What means that something is Case Sensitive?

If you’re not careful, case sensitivity can trip you up when you’re programming. It’s important to be aware of whether your language is case sensitive or not, and to use the proper casing in your code.

In most languages, variable and function names are case sensitive. That means that myFunction and myfunction are two different things. If you try to call myFunction when you’ve actually defined myfunction, you’ll get an error. The same goes for variables – if you try to use myVariable when you’ve really defined MYVARIABLE, you’ll get an error.

So, how do you know whether a language is case sensitive? The best way is to consult the documentation or ask a knowledgeable friend. For example, in the C programming" language, all identifiers are case sensitive, while in Java", only class names are case sensitive.


CASESPECIFIC and NOT CASESPECIFIC Data Type

I will create a table with four attributes: two of them will be NOT CASESPECIFIC, third will be CASESPECIFIC and the last – default". Then I will add record for my table and I will check how it works during string comparisons.

CREATE TABLE TUTORIAL.TEST (
	NAME1 		VARCHAR(100) NOT CASESPECIFIC,
	NAME2		VARCHAR(100) NOT CS,
	NAME3		VARCHAR(100) CS,
	NAME4		VARCHAR(100)
);
INSERT INTO TUTORIAL.TEST VALUES ('Test', 'Test', 'Test', 'Test');

NOT CASESPECIFIC (NOT CS) in Teradata

NOT CASESPECIFIC data type attribute in Teradata specifies that all records for this attribute will be case insensitive. What it means? For example value ‘TEST’ is completely the same like ‘test’ or ‘Test’. Let’s look!

SEL * FROM TUTORIAL.TEST WHERE NAME1 = 'TEST';
Teradata: What is the difference between CASESPECIFIC and NOT CASESPECIFIC data type attributes? - you won't believe how easy it is - 5 mins!

As we see on the screenshot above, Teradata found our record although we were looking for ‘TEST’, not ‘Test’ value. The same situation will be for NAME2 attributes, because NOT CS means exactly the same what NOT CASESPECIFIC.

CASESPECIFIC (CS)

CASESPECIFIC data type attribute in Teradata specifies that all records for this attribute are case sensitive. What it means? For example value ‘TEST’ is not the same like ‘Test’ what we noticed for NOT CS data type attribute. Let’s look!

SEL * FROM TUTORIAL.TEST WHERE NAME3 = 'TEST';

The above query did not return any records, but what will happen for the fourth attribute?

In my database record was return, because I use TERA Mode and the NOT CS is my default" setting.

If you create a table with CHAR or VARCHAR data types, the CASESPECIFIC is the default" option when you use ANSI Mode and you do not need to set it. But if you use TERA Mode, the NOT CS is the default" character data.

Character Set Latin Not CASESPECIFIC

The CHARACTER SET LATIN NOT CASESPECIFIC clause in Teradata is used to specify that character strings should be treated as case-insensitive and compared using the Latin character set.

The CHARACTER SET clause specifies the character set to be used for character string comparisons, while the NOT CASESPECIFIC keyword specifies that the comparisons should be case-insensitive.

Here is an example of how the CHARACTER SET LATIN NOT CASESPECIFIC clause might be used in a CREATE TABLE statement in Teradata:

CREATE TABLE Customers (
  CustomerID INTEGER,
  Name CHARACTER SET LATIN NOT CASESPECIFIC,
  City CHARACTER SET LATIN NOT CASESPECIFIC,
  State CHARACTER SET LATIN NOT CASESPECIFIC
);

In this example, the Name, City, and State columns are defined as character strings that use the Latin character set and are case-insensitive. This means that the DBMS will treat strings in these columns as if they were all in lowercase, and it will ignore the case when comparing them.

The CHARACTER SET LATIN NOT CASESPECIFIC clause can be useful for controlling how character strings are treated and compared in your Teradata database, and for ensuring that string comparisons are consistent and accurate.

Summary

Teradata is a powerful and flexible DBMS that is well-suited for a wide range of data warehousing and analytics applications. It can be an excellent choice for organizations that need to store and process large amounts of data efficiently and securely.

In the Teradata database" management system (DBMS), the CASESPECIFIC keyword is used to specify whether string comparisons should be case-sensitive or case-insensitive. When used in a SELECT statement or other SQL" statement, it determines how the DBMS handles string comparisons in the WHERE clause or other parts of the query.

To sum up:

  • if you use TERA mode , case insensitive is your default" setting (NOT CS)
  • if you use ANSI mode, case sensitive is your deafult setting (CS)
  • for NOT CS setting, ‘TEST’ means exactly the same what ‘test’, ‘Test’, ‘TeSt’ e.t.c.
  • for CS setting, ‘TEST’ is not equivalent for ‘test’, ‘Test’, ‘TeSt’ e.t.c.
Could You Please Share This Post? 
I appreciate It And Thank YOU! :)
Have A Nice Day!

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 4.7 / 5. Vote count: 1403

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

As you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?