For example, data of String type may be the easiest to manipulate. Since there are no mismatched values for String data type, you may wish to change a column's data type to this baseline type. 

• Data types that you see in the Transformer page represent types that are understood by the product. 
• When data is imported from a separate datastore, 

  D s product

   may apply internal data types to the data. These types may differ from the original data typing in the source. As needed, the inferring of data types can be disabled at the file, connection, or global level. For more information, see Disable Type Inference.
• When data is published from the product to a separate datastore, these types may be mapped to different data types in the target. For more information, see Type Conversions.

For more information on the available data types, see Supported Data Types.

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You can change a column's data type in one of the following ways:

Change from

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column menus

You can change the data type for individual columns through the following column menus:

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Change

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through Transform Builder 

You can change data type for multiple columns to a single data type, you a single column or multiple columns through the Transform Builder. You can use a transformation like the following, which changes the columns LastName, FirstName, and Address to String data type.

For more information, see Valid Data Type Strings.

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Lock Data Type

You can lock a column's data type through the Transform Builder. When a column's data type is locked, the data type is no longer automatically checked and updated by the 

Via Transform Builder

1. In the Search panel, enter lock column type. 
2. From the Columns drop-down, select any one of the following options:
   
   1. Multiple: Select one or more columns from the drop-down list.
   2. Range: Specify a start column and ending column. All columns inclusive are selected.

   3. All: Select all columns in the dataset.

      Info
      NOTE: This option locks all the column's data type.

   4. Advanced: Specify the columns using a comma-separated list. You can combine multiple and range options under Advanced. Example:
      

      Code Block
      c1,c3,c5~c8

3. Specify the other parameters.
4. To add the step to your recipe, click Add. 

Example - lock a column's data type

This transformation locks the column data type:

Example - lock the data types for all columns

This transformation locks the data types for all columns:

Unlock Data Type

You can unlock a column's data type by following any one of these methods:

Via Transform Builder

In the Transformer Builder, you can select unlock to the current type option to apply the unlock feature to one or more columns.

This transformation unlocks the column data type:

Via column menus

You can unlock the data type for individual columns through the following column menus:

• To the left of the column name, you can click the icon and select Automatically update. The selected column is unlocked. 

Change Datetime Data Type

If you are changing a column's data type to Datetime, you must also select a format string to apply to the column. In

Via column menus

You can apply a Datetime data type through the column menus, the available options can be selected after you select Datetime. For more information, see Datetime Data Type.. When you choose the Datetime data type, you must apply a format for your Datetime values. For more information, see Choose Datetime Format Dialog.

Via Transform Builder

In the Transformer Builder, you can apply a specific transformation to format one or more columns to Datetime data type, using a specific format.

This transformation looks like the following: