VARIANT

A semi-structured type produced exclusively by the -> operator when extracting a JSON field from a VARCHAR/NVARCHAR/VARBINARY column. Use -> to extract a field as VARIANT (a JSON value), or ->> to extract the same field as NVARCHAR (JSON strings unquoted to plain text).

Comparisons

This type does not support direct comparisons with =, <, or >. Extract or cast values first.

Notes

VARIANT is NOT produced by reading JSON files/columns directly — file connectors map JSON object/struct columns to NVARCHAR. VARIANT only appears as the result of the -> operator; there is no PARSE_JSON()/TO_VARIANT() function.

Limitations

• You cannot CAST any value to VARIANT — it is read-only at the SQL level.
• VARIANT values cannot be compared with = or <. Extract a field first.
• VARIANT columns cannot be used in GROUP BY, ORDER BY, or JOIN conditions directly — extract and cast first.

See Also

• Working with structs — worked examples.