> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://private-7c7dfe99-mintlify-3a82795f.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> Documentation for the Variant data type in ClickHouse

# Variant(T1, T2, ...)

This type represents a union of other data types. Type `Variant(T1, T2, ..., TN)` means that each row of this type
has a value of either type `T1` or `T2` or ... or `TN` or none of them (`NULL` value).

The order of nested types doesn't matter: Variant(T1, T2) = Variant(T2, T1).
Nested types can be arbitrary types except Nullable(...), LowCardinality(Nullable(...)) and Variant(...) types.

<Note>
  It's not recommended to use similar types as variants (for example different numeric types like `Variant(UInt32, Int64)` or different date types like `Variant(Date, DateTime)`),
  because working with values of such types can lead to ambiguity. By default, creating such `Variant` type will lead to an exception, but can be enabled using setting `allow_suspicious_variant_types`
</Note>

<h2 id="creating-variant">
  Creating Variant
</h2>

Using `Variant` type in table column definition:

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE test (v Variant(UInt64, String, Array(UInt64))) ENGINE = Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES (NULL), (42), ('Hello, World!'), ([1, 2, 3]);
SELECT v FROM test;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v─────────────┐
│ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │
│ 42            │
│ Hello, World! │
│ [1,2,3]       │
└───────────────┘
```

Using CAST from ordinary columns:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT toTypeName(variant) AS type_name, 'Hello, World!'::Variant(UInt64, String, Array(UInt64)) as variant;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─type_name──────────────────────────────┬─variant───────┐
│ Variant(Array(UInt64), String, UInt64) │ Hello, World! │
└────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┘
```

Using functions `if/multiIf` when arguments don't have common type (setting `use_variant_as_common_type` should be enabled for it):

```sql theme={null}
SET use_variant_as_common_type = 1;
SELECT if(number % 2, number, range(number)) as variant FROM numbers(5);
```

```text theme={null}
┌─variant───┐
│ []        │
│ 1         │
│ [0,1]     │
│ 3         │
│ [0,1,2,3] │
└───────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SET use_variant_as_common_type = 1;
SELECT multiIf((number % 4) = 0, 42, (number % 4) = 1, [1, 2, 3], (number % 4) = 2, 'Hello, World!', NULL) AS variant FROM numbers(4);
```

```text theme={null}
┌─variant───────┐
│ 42            │
│ [1,2,3]       │
│ Hello, World! │
│ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │
└───────────────┘
```

Using functions 'array/map' if array elements/map values don't have common type (setting `use_variant_as_common_type` should be enabled for it):

```sql theme={null}
SET use_variant_as_common_type = 1;
SELECT array(range(number), number, 'str_' || toString(number)) as array_of_variants FROM numbers(3);
```

```text theme={null}
┌─array_of_variants─┐
│ [[],0,'str_0']    │
│ [[0],1,'str_1']   │
│ [[0,1],2,'str_2'] │
└───────────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SET use_variant_as_common_type = 1;
SELECT map('a', range(number), 'b', number, 'c', 'str_' || toString(number)) as map_of_variants FROM numbers(3);
```

```text theme={null}
┌─map_of_variants───────────────┐
│ {'a':[],'b':0,'c':'str_0'}    │
│ {'a':[0],'b':1,'c':'str_1'}   │
│ {'a':[0,1],'b':2,'c':'str_2'} │
└───────────────────────────────┘
```

<h2 id="reading-variant-nested-types-as-subcolumns">
  Reading Variant nested types as subcolumns
</h2>

Variant type supports reading a single nested type from a Variant column using the type name as a subcolumn.
So, if you have column `variant Variant(T1, T2, T3)` you can read a subcolumn of type `T2` using syntax `variant.T2`,
this subcolumn will have type `Nullable(T2)` if `T2` can be inside `Nullable` and `T2` otherwise. This subcolumn will
be the same size as original `Variant` column and will contain `NULL` values (or empty values if `T2` cannot be inside `Nullable`)
in all rows in which original `Variant` column doesn't have type `T2`.

Variant subcolumns can be also read using function `variantElement(variant_column, type_name)`.

Examples:

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE test (v Variant(UInt64, String, Array(UInt64))) ENGINE = Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES (NULL), (42), ('Hello, World!'), ([1, 2, 3]);
SELECT v, v.String, v.UInt64, v.`Array(UInt64)` FROM test;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v─────────────┬─v.String──────┬─v.UInt64─┬─v.Array(UInt64)─┐
│ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │     ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ []              │
│ 42            │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │       42 │ []              │
│ Hello, World! │ Hello, World! │     ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ []              │
│ [1,2,3]       │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │     ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ [1,2,3]         │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴──────────┴─────────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT toTypeName(v.String), toTypeName(v.UInt64), toTypeName(v.`Array(UInt64)`) FROM test LIMIT 1;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─toTypeName(v.String)─┬─toTypeName(v.UInt64)─┬─toTypeName(v.Array(UInt64))─┐
│ Nullable(String)     │ Nullable(UInt64)     │ Array(UInt64)               │
└──────────────────────┴──────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT v, variantElement(v, 'String'), variantElement(v, 'UInt64'), variantElement(v, 'Array(UInt64)') FROM test;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v─────────────┬─variantElement(v, 'String')─┬─variantElement(v, 'UInt64')─┬─variantElement(v, 'Array(UInt64)')─┐
│ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ                        │                        ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ []                                 │
│ 42            │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ                        │                          42 │ []                                 │
│ Hello, World! │ Hello, World!               │                        ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ []                                 │
│ [1,2,3]       │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ                        │                        ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ [1,2,3]                            │
└───────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘
```

To know what variant is stored in each row function `variantType(variant_column)` can be used. It returns `Enum` with variant type name for each row (or `'None'` if row is `NULL`).

Example:

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE test (v Variant(UInt64, String, Array(UInt64))) ENGINE = Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES (NULL), (42), ('Hello, World!'), ([1, 2, 3]);
SELECT variantType(v) FROM test;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─variantType(v)─┐
│ None           │
│ UInt64         │
│ String         │
│ Array(UInt64)  │
└────────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT toTypeName(variantType(v)) FROM test LIMIT 1;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─toTypeName(variantType(v))──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Enum8('None' = -1, 'Array(UInt64)' = 0, 'String' = 1, 'UInt64' = 2) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

<h2 id="conversion-between-a-variant-column-and-other-columns">
  Conversion between a Variant column and other columns
</h2>

There are 4 possible conversions that can be performed with a column of type `Variant`.

<h3 id="converting-a-string-column-to-a-variant-column">
  Converting a String column to a Variant column
</h3>

Conversion from `String` to `Variant` is performed by parsing a value of `Variant` type from the string value:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT '42'::Variant(String, UInt64) AS variant, variantType(variant) AS variant_type
```

```text theme={null}
┌─variant─┬─variant_type─┐
│ 42      │ UInt64       │
└─────────┴──────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT '[1, 2, 3]'::Variant(String, Array(UInt64)) as variant, variantType(variant) as variant_type
```

```text theme={null}
┌─variant─┬─variant_type──┐
│ [1,2,3] │ Array(UInt64) │
└─────────┴───────────────┘
```

````sql theme={null}
SELECT CAST(map('key1', '42', 'key2', 'true', 'key3', '2020-01-01'), 'Map(String, Variant(UInt64, Bool, Date))') AS map_of_variants, mapApply((k, v) -> (k, variantType(v)), map_of_variants) AS map_of_variant_types```
````

```text theme={null}
┌─map_of_variants─────────────────────────────┬─map_of_variant_types──────────────────────────┐
│ {'key1':42,'key2':true,'key3':'2020-01-01'} │ {'key1':'UInt64','key2':'Bool','key3':'Date'} │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

To disable parsing during conversion from `String` to `Variant` you can disable setting `cast_string_to_dynamic_use_inference`:

```sql theme={null}
SET cast_string_to_variant_use_inference = 0;
SELECT '[1, 2, 3]'::Variant(String, Array(UInt64)) as variant, variantType(variant) as variant_type
```

```text theme={null}
┌─variant───┬─variant_type─┐
│ [1, 2, 3] │ String       │
└───────────┴──────────────┘
```

<h3 id="converting-an-ordinary-column-to-a-variant-column">
  Converting an ordinary column to a Variant column
</h3>

It is possible to convert an ordinary column with type `T` to a `Variant` column containing this type:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT toTypeName(variant) AS type_name, [1,2,3]::Array(UInt64)::Variant(UInt64, String, Array(UInt64)) as variant, variantType(variant) as variant_name
```

```text theme={null}
┌─type_name──────────────────────────────┬─variant─┬─variant_name──┐
│ Variant(Array(UInt64), String, UInt64) │ [1,2,3] │ Array(UInt64) │
└────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────┴───────────────┘
```

Note: converting from `String` type is always performed through parsing, if you need to convert `String` column to `String` variant of a `Variant` without parsing, you can do the following:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT '[1, 2, 3]'::Variant(String)::Variant(String, Array(UInt64), UInt64) as variant, variantType(variant) as variant_type
```

```sql theme={null}
┌─variant───┬─variant_type─┐
│ [1, 2, 3] │ String       │
└───────────┴──────────────┘
```

<h3 id="converting-a-variant-column-to-an-ordinary-column">
  Converting a Variant column to an ordinary column
</h3>

It is possible to convert a `Variant` column to an ordinary column. In this case all nested variants will be converted to a destination type:

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE test (v Variant(UInt64, String)) ENGINE = Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES (NULL), (42), ('42.42');
SELECT v::Nullable(Float64) FROM test;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─CAST(v, 'Nullable(Float64)')─┐
│                         ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │
│                           42 │
│                        42.42 │
└──────────────────────────────┘
```

<h3 id="converting-a-variant-to-another-variant">
  Converting a Variant to another Variant
</h3>

It is possible to convert a `Variant` column to another `Variant` column, but only if the destination `Variant` column contains all nested types from the original `Variant`:

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE test (v Variant(UInt64, String)) ENGINE = Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES (NULL), (42), ('String');
SELECT v::Variant(UInt64, String, Array(UInt64)) FROM test;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─CAST(v, 'Variant(UInt64, String, Array(UInt64))')─┐
│ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ                                              │
│ 42                                                │
│ String                                            │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

<h2 id="reading-variant-type-from-the-data">
  Reading Variant type from the data
</h2>

All text formats (TSV, CSV, CustomSeparated, Values, JSONEachRow, etc) supports reading `Variant` type. During data parsing ClickHouse tries to insert value into most appropriate variant type.

Example:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT
    v,
    variantElement(v, 'String') AS str,
    variantElement(v, 'UInt64') AS num,
    variantElement(v, 'Float64') AS float,
    variantElement(v, 'DateTime') AS date,
    variantElement(v, 'Array(UInt64)') AS arr
FROM format(JSONEachRow, 'v Variant(String, UInt64, Float64, DateTime, Array(UInt64))', $$
{"v" : "Hello, World!"},
{"v" : 42},
{"v" : 42.42},
{"v" : "2020-01-01 00:00:00"},
{"v" : [1, 2, 3]}
$$)
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v───────────────────┬─str───────────┬──num─┬─float─┬────────────────date─┬─arr─────┐
│ Hello, World!       │ Hello, World! │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │  ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │                ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ []      │
│ 42                  │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │   42 │  ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │                ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ []      │
│ 42.42               │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ 42.42 │                ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ []      │
│ 2020-01-01 00:00:00 │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │  ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ 2020-01-01 00:00:00 │ []      │
│ [1,2,3]             │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ          │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │  ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │                ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ [1,2,3] │
└─────────────────────┴───────────────┴──────┴───────┴─────────────────────┴─────────┘
```

<h2 id="comparing-values-of-variant-data">
  Comparing values of Variant type
</h2>

Values of a `Variant` type can be compared only with values with the same `Variant` type.

By default, comparison operators use [default implementation for Variant](#functions-with-variant-arguments),
applying comparison to each variant type separately. This can be disabled using setting `use_variant_default_implementation_for_comparisons = 0`
to use native Variant comparison rules described below. **Note** that `ORDER BY` always uses native comparison.

**Native Variant comparison rules:**

The result of operator `<` for values `v1` with underlying type `T1` and `v2` with underlying type `T2`  of a type `Variant(..., T1, ... T2, ...)` is defined as follows:

* If `T1 = T2 = T`, the result will be `v1.T < v2.T` (underlying values will be compared).
* If `T1 != T2`, the result will be `T1 < T2` (type names will be compared).

Examples:

```sql theme={null}
SET allow_suspicious_types_in_order_by = 1;
CREATE TABLE test (v1 Variant(String, UInt64, Array(UInt32)), v2 Variant(String, UInt64, Array(UInt32))) ENGINE=Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES (42, 42), (42, 43), (42, 'abc'), (42, [1, 2, 3]), (42, []), (42, NULL);
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT v2, variantType(v2) AS v2_type FROM test ORDER BY v2;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v2──────┬─v2_type───────┐
│ []      │ Array(UInt32) │
│ [1,2,3] │ Array(UInt32) │
│ abc     │ String        │
│ 42      │ UInt64        │
│ 43      │ UInt64        │
│ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ    │ None          │
└─────────┴───────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT v1, variantType(v1) AS v1_type, v2, variantType(v2) AS v2_type, v1 = v2, v1 < v2, v1 > v2 FROM test;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v1─┬─v1_type─┬─v2──────┬─v2_type───────┬─equals(v1, v2)─┬─less(v1, v2)─┬─greater(v1, v2)─┐
│ 42 │ UInt64  │ 42      │ UInt64        │              1 │            0 │               0 │
│ 42 │ UInt64  │ 43      │ UInt64        │              0 │            1 │               0 │
│ 42 │ UInt64  │ abc     │ String        │              0 │            0 │               1 │
│ 42 │ UInt64  │ [1,2,3] │ Array(UInt32) │              0 │            0 │               1 │
│ 42 │ UInt64  │ []      │ Array(UInt32) │              0 │            0 │               1 │
│ 42 │ UInt64  │ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ    │ None          │              0 │            1 │               0 │
└────┴─────────┴─────────┴───────────────┴────────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────────┘

```

If you need to find the row with specific `Variant` value, you can do one of the following:

* Cast value to the corresponding `Variant` type:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT * FROM test WHERE v2 == [1,2,3]::Array(UInt32)::Variant(String, UInt64, Array(UInt32));
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v1─┬─v2──────┐
│ 42 │ [1,2,3] │
└────┴─────────┘
```

* Compare `Variant` subcolumn with required type:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT * FROM test WHERE v2.`Array(UInt32)` == [1,2,3] -- or using variantElement(v2, 'Array(UInt32)')
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v1─┬─v2──────┐
│ 42 │ [1,2,3] │
└────┴─────────┘
```

Sometimes it can be useful to make additional check on variant type as subcolumns with complex types like `Array/Map/Tuple` cannot be inside `Nullable` and will have default values instead of `NULL` on rows with different types:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT v2, v2.`Array(UInt32)`, variantType(v2) FROM test WHERE v2.`Array(UInt32)` == [];
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v2───┬─v2.Array(UInt32)─┬─variantType(v2)─┐
│ 42   │ []               │ UInt64          │
│ 43   │ []               │ UInt64          │
│ abc  │ []               │ String          │
│ []   │ []               │ Array(UInt32)   │
│ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ []               │ None            │
└──────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT v2, v2.`Array(UInt32)`, variantType(v2) FROM test WHERE variantType(v2) == 'Array(UInt32)' AND v2.`Array(UInt32)` == [];
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v2─┬─v2.Array(UInt32)─┬─variantType(v2)─┐
│ [] │ []               │ Array(UInt32)   │
└────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────┘
```

**Note:** values of variants with different numeric types are considered as different variants and not compared between each other, their type names are compared instead.

Example:

```sql theme={null}
SET allow_suspicious_variant_types = 1;
CREATE TABLE test (v Variant(UInt32, Int64)) ENGINE=Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES (1::UInt32), (1::Int64), (100::UInt32), (100::Int64);
SELECT v, variantType(v) FROM test ORDER by v;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v───┬─variantType(v)─┐
│ 1   │ Int64          │
│ 100 │ Int64          │
│ 1   │ UInt32         │
│ 100 │ UInt32         │
└─────┴────────────────┘
```

**Note** by default `Variant` type is not allowed in `GROUP BY`/`ORDER BY` keys, if you want to use it consider its special comparison rule and enable `allow_suspicious_types_in_group_by`/`allow_suspicious_types_in_order_by` settings.

<h2 id="jsonextract-functions-with-variant">
  JSONExtract functions with Variant
</h2>

All `JSONExtract*` functions support `Variant` type:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT JSONExtract('{"a" : [1, 2, 3]}', 'a', 'Variant(UInt32, String, Array(UInt32))') AS variant, variantType(variant) AS variant_type;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─variant─┬─variant_type──┐
│ [1,2,3] │ Array(UInt32) │
└─────────┴───────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT JSONExtract('{"obj" : {"a" : 42, "b" : "Hello", "c" : [1,2,3]}}', 'obj', 'Map(String, Variant(UInt32, String, Array(UInt32)))') AS map_of_variants, mapApply((k, v) -> (k, variantType(v)), map_of_variants) AS map_of_variant_types
```

```text theme={null}
┌─map_of_variants──────────────────┬─map_of_variant_types────────────────────────────┐
│ {'a':42,'b':'Hello','c':[1,2,3]} │ {'a':'UInt32','b':'String','c':'Array(UInt32)'} │
└──────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

```sql theme={null}
SELECT JSONExtractKeysAndValues('{"a" : 42, "b" : "Hello", "c" : [1,2,3]}', 'Variant(UInt32, String, Array(UInt32))') AS variants, arrayMap(x -> (x.1, variantType(x.2)), variants) AS variant_types
```

```text theme={null}
┌─variants───────────────────────────────┬─variant_types─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [('a',42),('b','Hello'),('c',[1,2,3])] │ [('a','UInt32'),('b','String'),('c','Array(UInt32)')] │
└────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

<h2 id="functions-with-variant-arguments">
  Functions with Variant arguments
</h2>

Most functions in ClickHouse automatically support `Variant` type arguments through a **default implementation for Variant**.
Starting from version `26.1` onwards, when a function that doesn't explicitly handle Variant types receives a Variant column, ClickHouse:

1. Extracts each variant type from the Variant column
2. Executes the function separately for each variant type
3. Combines results appropriately based on result types

This allows you to use regular functions with Variant columns without special handling.

**Example:**

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE test (v Variant(UInt32, String)) ENGINE = Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES (42), ('hello'), (NULL);
SELECT *, toTypeName(v) FROM test WHERE v = 42;
```

```text theme={null}
   ┌─v──┬─toTypeName(v)───────────┐
1. │ 42 │ Variant(String, UInt32) │
   └────┴─────────────────────────┘
```

The comparison operator is automatically applied to each variant type separately, allowing filtering on Variant columns.

**Result type behavior:**

The result type depends on what the function returns for each variant:

* **Different result types**: `Variant(T1, T2, ...)`

  ```sql theme={null}
  CREATE TABLE test2 (v Variant(UInt64, Float64)) ENGINE = Memory;
  INSERT INTO test2 VALUES (42::UInt64), (42.42);
  SELECT v + 1 AS result, toTypeName(result) FROM test2;
  ```

  ```text theme={null}
  ┌─result─┬─toTypeName(plus(v, 1))──┐
  │     43 │ Variant(Float64, UInt64) │
  │  43.42 │ Variant(Float64, UInt64) │
  └────────┴─────────────────────────┘
  ```

* **Type incompatibility**: `NULL` for incompatible variants

  ```sql theme={null}
  CREATE TABLE test3 (v Variant(Array(UInt32), UInt32)) ENGINE = Memory;
  INSERT INTO test3 VALUES ([1,2,3]), (42);
  SELECT v + 10 AS result, toTypeName(result) FROM test3;
  ```

  ```text theme={null}
  ┌─result─┬─toTypeName(plus(v, 10))─┐
  │   ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │ Nullable(UInt64)        │
  │     52 │ Nullable(UInt64)        │
  └────────┴─────────────────────────┘
  ```

<Note>
  **Error handling:** When a function cannot process a variant type, only type-related errors (ILLEGAL\_TYPE\_OF\_ARGUMENT,
  TYPE\_MISMATCH, CANNOT\_CONVERT\_TYPE, NO\_COMMON\_TYPE) are caught and result in NULL for those rows. Other errors like
  division by zero or out of memory are raised normally to prevent silently hiding real problems.
</Note>

<h3 id="variant-type-mismatch-behavior">
  Type mismatch behavior
</h3>

The setting `variant_throw_on_type_mismatch` controls what happens when a function is applied to a `Variant` column and the actual stored type of a row is incompatible with the function:

* `true` (default) — throw an exception (`ILLEGAL_TYPE_OF_ARGUMENT`) on the first incompatible row.
* `false` — return `NULL` for incompatible rows and keep the result for compatible rows.

**Example:**

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE test (v Variant(String, UInt64)) ENGINE = Memory;
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('hello'), (42), ('foo');

-- Default (throw on mismatch): length() does not accept UInt64, so the query throws.
SELECT length(v) FROM test;  -- throws ILLEGAL_TYPE_OF_ARGUMENT

-- With throw disabled: incompatible rows return NULL.
SET variant_throw_on_type_mismatch = false;
SELECT v, length(v) FROM test ORDER BY v::String NULLS LAST;
```

```text theme={null}
┌─v─────┬─length(v)─┐
│ foo   │         3 │
│ hello │         5 │
│ 42    │      ᴺᵁᴸᴸ │
└───────┴───────────┘
```