Data types in Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense can handle text strings, numbers, dates, times, timestamps, and currencies correctly. They can be sorted, displayed in a number of different formats and they can be used in calculations. This means, for example, that dates, times, and timestamps can be added to or subtracted from each other.

Data representation inside Qlik Sense

In order to understand data interpretation and number formatting in Qlik Sense, it is necessary to know how data is stored internally by the program. All of the data loaded into Qlik Sense is available in two representations: as a string and as a number.

1. The string representation is always available and is what is shown in the list boxes and the other sheet objects. Formatting of data in list boxes (number format) only affects the string representation.
2. The number representation is only available when the data can be interpreted as a valid number. The number representation is used for all numeric calculations and for numeric sorting.

If several data items read into one field have the same number representation, they will all be treated as the same value and will all share the first string representation encountered. Example: The numbers 1.0, 1 and 1.000 read in that order will all have the number representation 1 and the initial string representation 1.0.