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NAT / NATIVE Format

High-performance native binary format for data re-ingestion.

Overview

The NATIVE format is a compact binary format optimized for fast writing and reading. Use it for intermediate storage when processing data in multiple stages.

Usage

Output to native format

bash
loq -o:NAT "SELECT * FROM large_dataset.csv" --ofile:intermediate.nat

Read native format

bash
loq -i:NAT "SELECT * FROM intermediate.nat WHERE status = 'active'"

Benefits

  • Speed: Faster than CSV/JSON for large datasets
  • Types preserved: No type inference on re-read
  • Compact: Binary encoding reduces file size
  • Schema included: Column names and types stored in file

Examples

Two-stage processing

bash
# Stage 1: Filter and save
loq -o:NAT "SELECT * FROM huge.csv WHERE region = 'US'" --ofile:us_data.nat

# Stage 2: Aggregate from filtered data
loq -i:NAT "SELECT state, SUM(sales) FROM us_data.nat GROUP BY state"

Pipeline processing

bash
loq -o:NAT "SELECT * FROM raw/*.log" --ofile:combined.nat
loq -i:NAT -o:JSON "SELECT * FROM combined.nat" > final.json

Notes

  • Binary format - not human readable
  • Platform-independent
  • Use for intermediate processing, not long-term storage

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