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Timestamp data types are used to store and process precise time information. RisingWave supports two types of timestamps:
  • timestamp: Stores date and time values without timezone, supporting up to nanosecond precision (9 digits after the decimal point).
  • timestamptz: Stores date and time values along with time zone information, supporting up to microsecond precision (6 digits after the decimal point).

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Precision preservation

Added in version 2.1.
Nanosecond precision is fully maintained for timestamp during the following operations:
  • Reading from or writing to external sources (Kafka, Iceberg, Parquet, etc.) preserves nanoseconds automatically.
  • Adding or subtracting an interval from a timestamp.
    Add an interval
    SELECT '2022-03-13 01:00:00.123456789'::timestamp + INTERVAL '24' HOUR;
-- Result: 2022-03-14 01:00:00.123456789
    Subtract an interval
    SELECT '2022-03-14 01:00:00.123456789'::timestamp - INTERVAL '24' HOUR;
-- Result: 2022-03-13 01:00:00.123456789

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Precision loss

Nanosecond precision is lost (truncated to microseconds or discarded) under the following scenarios:
  • Converting timestamp to types with lower precision:
    • timestamptz
    • time
    • date
  • Subtracting Timestamps (timestamp - timestamp): The result is an interval, which only has microsecond precision.
    Subtract two timestamps
    SELECT '2022-03-13 03:00:00.123456789'::timestamp - '2022-03-13 01:00:00.000000000'::timestamp;
-- Result: 02:00:00.123456 (Note that nanosecond precision is truncated.)
For more functions and usage on timestamp, see Date and time functions and operators.