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Data Types

6 min read Quiz at the end

PostgreSQL supports rich types: INTEGER, TEXT, BOOLEAN, TIMESTAMPTZ, UUID, JSONB, and arrays. Always use TIMESTAMPTZ for dates to store time in UTC. TEXT is preferred over VARCHAR for most string columns.

Common PostgreSQL Data Types

Type	Example
INTEGER / BIGINT	42
NUMERIC(10,2)	9999.99
VARCHAR(255)	'Alice'
TEXT	long strings
BOOLEAN	TRUE / FALSE
DATE	2024-01-15
TIMESTAMP	2024-01-15 10:30:00
UUID	gen_random_uuid()
JSONB	{"key":"value"}
ARRAY	ARRAY[1,2,3]

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Topic Quiz · 5 questions

Test your understanding before moving on

1. Which type stores timezone-aware dates and times?

💡 TIMESTAMPTZ stores timestamp with timezone — always preferred over TIMESTAMP.

2. Which type stores unlimited text?

💡 TEXT in PostgreSQL stores strings of unlimited length.

3. What is JSONB?

💡 JSONB stores JSON in a decomposed binary format that supports indexing.

4. Which numeric type has exact precision?

💡 NUMERIC(precision, scale) stores exact decimal values — ideal for money.

5. Which type auto-increments as a primary key?

💡 SERIAL is shorthand for a sequence-backed auto-incrementing integer.

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Data Types

Common PostgreSQL Data Types

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