How to you insert data into a ARRAY column on a Snowflake table using SQL

arrayinsertsnowflake

I am having difficultly finding documentation on how to insert data into an ARRAY column type using SQL on a Snowflake table.

Snowflake Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.net/manuals/sql-reference/data-types-semistructured.html#array

// example table
CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE array_test_table (
  id number,
  ids array
);

// This does not work
INSERT INTO array_test_table (id, ids) 
VALUES (1, '[1,2,3]' );

I have tried using using postgres's syntax like ones described here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33335338/inserting-array-values

I originally asked this question here: Snowflake Community

Best Answer

It looks like you need to apply a function to parse the array. As of 9/13/2018 functions are not allowed in value lists see Is there a literal syntax for arrays

One way around this is to combine INSERT INTO and SELECT statement. Example:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE array_test_table (
  id number,
  ids array
);

INSERT INTO array_test_table (id, ids) 
SELECT $1, PARSE_JSON($2)
  FROM VALUES (1, '[1,2,3]' );
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