# Column Data Types

## ChartSQL and SQL Data Types

ChartSQL detects the columns and data types of your SQL queries to determine how to visualize your query. ChartSQL has 4 data types:

* Date
* Datetime
* String
* Numeric

## SQL Data Type Mapping

Every supported SQL database column type is mapped to one of the ChartSQL datatypes automatically. For example, MySQL int, double, and bigint are mapped to `numeric` while MySQL date is mapped to `date` 

## Manual CAST

If your SQL query returns values that you want ChartSQL to detect as a different type, you need to CAST your value in SQL to the appropriate type. 

See CAST notes about your particular [datasource](/chartsql-studio/datasources/datasources.md)

Example casting a string in MySQL to a date:

```sql
SELECT CAST('2021-01-01' AS DATE);
```


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