How does Snowflake support storing semi‑structured data in different ways?
💡 Model Answer
Snowflake stores semi‑structured data using the VARIANT data type, which can hold JSON, Avro, Parquet, ORC, or XML. Within a table, a VARIANT column can contain nested objects and arrays. Snowflake automatically parses the data, enabling SQL queries with dot notation or the OBJECT and ARRAY functions. For large files, Snowflake supports external tables that reference data stored in cloud storage; the file format (JSON, Parquet, etc.) is specified, and Snowflake reads the data on demand. Additionally, Snowflake can ingest data via COPY commands, automatically detecting schema and loading into VARIANT columns. This flexibility allows you to store raw semi‑structured payloads and query them alongside structured columns.
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