Vector Type

Using Vector Data Type in Tables

Create a table and insert values using the VECTOR data type. The elementType defaults to F32.

CREATE TABLE exp_data(col_a VECTOR(3));

INSERT INTO exp_data VALUES('[0.267261237,0.534522474,0.801783681]');
INSERT INTO exp_data VALUES('[0.371390671,0.557085991,0.742781341]');
INSERT INTO exp_data VALUES('[0.424264073,0.565685451,0.707106829]');

Confirm that the vectors have been loaded:

SET vector_type_project_format = JSON;  /* to make vector output readable */

SELECT col_a FROM exp_data;

+---------------------------------------+
| col_a                                 |
+---------------------------------------+
| [0.267261237,0.534522474,0.801783681] |
| [0.424264073,0.565685451,0.707106829] |
| [0.371390671,0.557085991,0.742781341] |
+---------------------------------------+

Using Vector Data Type with Integer Element Type

This example shows how to create a VECTOR with an elementType of 16-bit integer (I16) to demonstrate how to use an elementType other than the default.

CREATE TABLE exp_data_i16(col_a VECTOR(3, I16));

INSERT INTO exp_data_i16 VALUES('[1, 2, 3]');
INSERT INTO exp_data_i16 VALUES('[4, 5, 6]');
INSERT INTO exp_data_i16 VALUES('[1, 4, 8]');

Confirm that the vectors were loaded.

SET vector_type_project_format = JSON;  /* to make vector output readable */

SELECT col_a FROM exp_data_i16;

+---------------------------------------+
| col_a                                 |
+---------------------------------------+
| [1, 2, 3]                             |
| [4, 5, 6]                             |
| [1, 4, 8]                             |
+---------------------------------------+

Transition from Blob to Vector Data Type in a Rowstore Table

Prior to the addition of the VECTOR data type, SingleStore supported storing vectors as BLOB values. With the introduction of this data type, you may wish to update your applications to use VECTORs instead of BLOBs.

The column type in a rowstore table can be easily modified from blob to vector using the ALTER TABLE MODIFY statement.

To simulate an existing application that stores vectors as blobs, create a table using the BLOB data type and enter vectors using JSON_ARRAY_PACK.

CREATE ROWSTORE TABLE exp_data2(col_b BLOB);

INSERT INTO exp_data2 VALUES(JSON_ARRAY_PACK('[1,2,3]'));
INSERT INTO exp_data2 VALUES(JSON_ARRAY_PACK('[3,5,9]'));

Confirm that the vectors have been inserted into the table.

SELECT JSON_ARRAY_UNPACK(col_b) FROM exp_data2;

+--------------------------+
| JSON_ARRAY_UNPACK(col_b) |
+--------------------------+
| [1,2,3]                  |
| [3,5,9]                  |
+--------------------------+

Use ALTER TABLE and MODIFY to convert the blob data type to a vector data type.

ALTER TABLE exp_data2 MODIFY col_b VECTOR(3);

Confirm that the column has been modified to a vector data type. Note that the element type of the vector is F32, the default.

SHOW COLUMNS FROM exp_data2;

+---------+----------------+------+------+---------+-------+
| Field   | Type           | Null | Key  | Default | Extra |
+---------+----------------+------+------+---------+-------+
| col_b   | vector(3, F32) | YES  |      | NULL    |       |
+---------+----------------+------+------+---------+-------+

Confirm that the table reflects the vector data type.

SET vector_type_project_format = JSON;  /* to make vector output readable */

SELECT col_b FROM exp_data2;

+--------+
|col_b   |
+--------+
|[3,5,9] |
|[1,2,3] |
+--------+

Transition from Blob to Vector Data Type in a Columnstore Table

The following steps outline how to change a columnstore blob column to vector.

1. Add a new vector column to the right of the blob column.

2. Update the vector column with the data from the blob column.

3. Drop the blob column.

4. Rename the new vector column to the old blob column name. This change ensures any previous queries still work, or at least require fewer changes.

These steps are demonstrated in the following example.

CREATE TABLE test(col_1 int, col_2 blob, col_3 int);

DESC test;

+---------+---------+------+------+---------+-------+
| Field   | Type    | Null | Key  | Default | Extra |
+---------+---------+------+------+---------+-------+
| col_1   | int(11) | YES  |      | NULL    |       |
| col_2   | blob    | YES  |      | NULL    |       |
| col_3   | int(11) | YES  |      | NULL    |       |
+---------+---------+------+------+---------+-------+

INSERT test VALUES(1,JSON_ARRAY_PACK("[1,2,3]"), 100);
INSERT test VALUES(2,JSON_ARRAY_PACK("[2,3,4]"), 200);

ALTER TABLE test ADD COLUMN col2 vector(3) AFTER col_2;

UPDATE test SET col2 = col_2;

SET vector_type_project_format = JSON;  /* to make vector output readable */

SELECT col_1, JSON_ARRAY_UNPACK(col_2), col2, col_3 FROM test;

+--------+---------------------------+---------+-------+
| col_1  | JSON_ARRAY_UNPACK(col_2)  | col2    | col_3 |
+--------+---------------------------+---------+-------+
|      1 | [1,2,3]                   | [1,2,3] |  100  |
|      2 | [2,3,4]                   | [2,3,4] |  200  |
+--------+---------------------------+---------+-------+

ALTER TABLE test DROP COLUMN col_2;

ALTER TABLE test CHANGE col2 col_2;

DESC test;

+---------+----------------+------+------+---------+-------+
| Field   | Type           | Null | Key  | Default | Extra |
+---------+----------------+------+------+---------+-------+
| col_1   | int(11)        | YES  |      | NULL    |       |
| col_2   | vector(3, F32) | YES  |      | NULL    |       |
| col_3   | int(11)        | YES  |      | NULL    |       |
+---------+----------------+------+------+---------+-------+

Casting between Blob and Vector

Casting is a type of conversion that allows a value to be converted from one data type to another. The following examples show how to cast a blob data type to a vector data type and vice versa.

Continuing with the table and values from the previous example, applying the following SELECT statement returns a vector type value in the left column (col_2).

The blob produced by the UNHEX() function is automatically cast as a vector of the correct length, which matches the type of the <*> operator’s left argument. If the length is not correct, an error occurs.

SET vector_type_project_format = JSON;  /* to make vector output readable */

SELECT col_2, col_2 <*> UNHEX("0000803F0000803F0000803F")
FROM test;

+-----------+---------------------------------------------+
| col_2     | col_2 <*> UNHEX("0000803F0000803F0000803F") |
+-----------+---------------------------------------------+
| [1,2,3]   |                                           6 |
| [2,3,4]   |                                           9 |
+-----------+---------------------------------------------+

Casting can be done in either direction using the :> operator. For example:

SET vector_type_project_format = JSON;  /* to make vector output readable */

SELECT "[1,2,3]" :> VECTOR(3) :> BLOB :> VECTOR(3);

+---------------------------------------------+
| "[1,2,3]" :> VECTOR(3) :> BLOB :> VECTOR(3) |
+---------------------------------------------+
| [1,2,3]                                     |
+---------------------------------------------+

When writing UDFs that operate on vectors of different lengths, casting can be used to allow a function to accept a blob argument instead of a fixed-length vector. Refer to the vector normalization topic for an example of the normalize function, which produces the results in the following example. You may also use this function on vector-type values of a fixed length, where an automatic casting from vector to blob is performed. For example:

SET vector_type_project_format = JSON;  /* to make vector output readable */

SET @v = "[1,2,3,4]" :> VECTOR(4);

SELECT normalize(@v) :> VECTOR(4);

+---------------------------------------------------+
| normalize(@v) :> VECTOR(4)                        |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| [0.182574183,0.365148365,0.547722578,0.730296731] |
+---------------------------------------------------+

Casting may be used to write helper functions, which are functions that call another function. For example, a helper function can be employed to operate on a fixed-length vector. Helper functions are useful when rewriting the logic of the calling function is impossible or impractical.

To illustrate, normalize treats a vector of any length as a blob due to the implicit casting of its argument from vector to blob. The following function, norm1536, is a thin wrapper around the normalize function. It normalizes a typed vector argument of length 1536 and returns a typed vector argument of length 1536.

DELIMITER //
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION norm1536(v VECTOR(1536)) RETURNS VECTOR (1536) AS
BEGIN
   RETURN normalize(v);
END //
DELIMITER ;

The norm1536 function can be used to write queries with no explicit casting required. This particular function is useful when working with vectors that are always of type VECTOR(1536) and the desired return value is explicitly typed as VECTOR(1536).