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Celonis Product Documentation

Vertica SQL
Exploring information about tables and columns

Vertica has virtual tables that contain information about the actual data tables. Use them like this:

SELECT * FROM TABLES; -- shows you information about all tables
SELECT column_name, data_type FROM COLUMNS WHERE table_name = '<TABLENAME>'; -- shows you the data types of the table <TABLENAME>
Differences in Vertica SQL compared to other SQL dialects

  • There are no column tables, just row tables.

  • There is no NVARCHAR, use VARCHAR instead.

  • There is no DECIMAL or NUMERIC, use FLOAT instead.

  • There is a DROP TABLE IF EXISTS and DROP VIEW IF EXISTS statement, so there's no need to use a stored procedure or another more complicated check.

  • No table or view that exists at the end of the job execution can contain a column with the data type TIME, because these cannot be exported to Parquet, which we need for the engine load.

  • Use DATETIME columns for the date and time of an event (not TIMESTAMP).

  • days_between becomes datediff(dd, start, end).

  • Date null checks work differently (see below).

  • Date concatenation works differently (see below).

  • Inserting hard-coded values in a UNION chain has a special syntax (see below).

  • UPDATE statements don't take the table to be updated in the FROM clause (see below).

  • Inserting multiple rows at once works differently (see below).

Date null checks

These checks work differently compared to HANA:

COALESCE(date_column, '') <> '' -- does not work because in Vertica the parameters of the COALESCE function need to have the same data type

date_column IS NOT NULL -- this works
Date concatenation

To concatenate date and time (especially relevant for SAP tables) you need to use the following syntax:

-- Generic
CAST(date_column AS DATE) + CAST(time_column AS TIME) AS EVENTTIME -- normal
CAST((date_column + day_column * INTERVAL '1 day') AS DATE) + CAST(time_column AS TIME) AS EVENTTIME -- with days added

-- Examples
CAST(B.BLDAT AS DATE) + CAST('00:00:00' AS TIME) AS EVENTTIME -- normal
CAST((B."ZFBDT" + B."ZBD1T" * INTERVAL '1 day') AS DATE) + CAST('23:59:59' AS TIME) AS EVENTTIME -- with days added
Inserting hard-coded values in a UNION chain

To add hardcoded values into a table within a UNION chain, use this syntax. A FROM statement is not needed.

...
UNION

SELECT
'text1' AS col1
,'text2' AS col2
,'text3' AS col3

UNION
...
UPDATE Statements

Updating doesn't take the table to be updated in the FROM statement, and the join moves from the FROM statement into the WHERE statement. Joins are made by listing the FROM tables, and stating everything else in the WHERE condition.

UPDATE 
    "_CEL_M2C_ACTIVITIES" AS ACT
SET 
    "CHANGED_FIELD_TEXT_EN" = NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_EN.PRETTY_NAME,
    "CHANGED_FIELD_TEXT_DE" = NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_DE.PRETTY_NAME
FROM "M2C_NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS" AS NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_EN
        ,"M2C_NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS" AS NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_DE

WHERE
        ACT."CHANGED_TABLE" = NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_EN."TABLE_NAME" AND
        ACT."CHANGED_FIELD" = NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_EN."FIELD_NAME" AND
        NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_EN."LANGUAGE" = 'E' AND
        ACT."CHANGED_TABLE" = NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_DE."TABLE_NAME" AND
        ACT."CHANGED_FIELD" = NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_DE."FIELD_NAME" AND
        NAME_MAPPING_COLUMNS_DE."LANGUAGE" = 'D'
;
Insert multiple rows at once

Inserting multiple rows at once works differently in Vertica. Here's how to do it:

-- This does not work in Vertica
INSERT INTO table_name(column1,column2)
VALUES (value1,value2),
       (value1,value2)

-- Instead, use the following syntax
INSERT INTO table_name
SELECT value1,value2
UNION SELECT value1,value2