# Data types This table describes how to use the data types supported by Data Shaping Expression Language. | Type | Syntax | Examples | Corresponding Java class | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | String | Strings should be delimited by single or double quotes. If you want to
use quotes in your string, you can escape them with \ or use
different quotes than the ones used to delimit the string. You can also use the
following sequences to escape: \n, \r,
\f, \t, \b,
\/, \' in case of single quoted string,
and \" in case of double quoted string.

CR, NL, and LF are
not allowed in a quoted string. | ```
'blue'
"yellow"
"John \"Big\" Doe"
"John 'Big' Doe"
``` | java.lang.string | | Integer | Integers are whole numbers, positive, or
negative. | ```
1
-42
2147483647
``` | java.lang.Integer | | Long | Long values should be followed by l or L to be
interpreted as long. Otherwise they are interpreted as
integers. | ```
1l
-42L
9223372036854775807L
``` | java.lang.Long | | Double | Double values should written in scientific notation
or be followed by d or D to be interpreted as double. Otherwise
they are interpreted as decimals. | ```
1.5d
5D
-.1415d
-4.73E-2
``` | java.lang.Double | | Float | Float values can be written in scientific notation.
They should be followed by f or
F to be interpreted as float.
Otherwise they are interpreted as double if they contain scientific
notation, or decimal if they do not. | ```
3.1415f
1.5e-2f
5F
``` | java.lang.Float | | Decimal | Decimals are numbers with a decimal point | ```
0.3
-1.17
``` | java.math.BigDecimal | | Boolean | Booleans are case insensitive. | ```
True
false
FALSE
``` | java.lang.Boolean | | Bytes | Bytes should be written with hexadecimal characters
in lowercase or uppercase, prefixed by 0x or
0X. | ```
0xFFFFFF
0X1234567890
0x0a6e
``` | byte[] | | Date | Dates should be delimited by single or double quotes. They are
composed of a year, month and day in the format yyyyMMdd, yyyy/MM/dd or
yyyy-MM-dd. To evaluate them as
dates instead of strings, you need to use a toDate function. See [Data type functions](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-shaping-language-reference-guide/8.0/data-type-functions "The following functions can be used to check values and data types, and to convert a value to another data type."). | ```
'2019-08-05'
"1981/09/12"
'20170223'
``` | java.time.LocalDate | | Time | Times should be delimited by single or double quotes. They are composed
of hours and minutes, and can also contain seconds, milliseconds, and a
timezone. The format should be HH:mm,
hh:mm:ss or HH:mm:ss.SSS To evaluate them
as times instead of strings, you need to use a toTime
function. | ```
"09:44"
'12:32:25'
"09:51:32.568"
"01:02:03.456+03:00"
``` | | | Datetime | Datetimes should be delimited by single or double quotes. They are
composed of a date and a time, with an optional timezone. The format should
follow the international standard ISO 8601. To evaluate them as datetimes
instead of strings, you need to use a toDateTime
function. | ```
"2017-07-02T15:04:05.567-08:00"
'2024-05-07T14:27'
``` | | ### In this section * [Automatic data type conversion](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-shaping-language-reference-guide/8.0/automatic-data-type-conversion)