VALIDATE_UTF8 File Format Option — Obsoleted

This behavior change is in the 2022_03 bundle. In the 6.16 behavior change release, the bundle is disabled by default.

For the most up-to-date status of the bundle, as well as other release-related details, see the Behavior Change Log.

The VALIDATE_UTF8 file format option specifies whether to validate UTF-8 character encoding in string column data. This option was provided only to ensure backward compatibility with older Snowflake versions. Since the option value defaulted to TRUE beginning in early 2017, the product documentation has strongly urged against overriding the default setting.

This option is now obsolete and the behavior when attempting to override the default value has changed as follows:

• Executing a CREATE <object_type>, ALTER <object_type>, or COPY INTO <table> statement that sets VALIDATE_UTF8 = FALSE produces a user error. The following object types support this file format option:
  • File format
  • Stage
  • Table
• If the option has been overridden on existing objects, it is now ignored when loading data. The load operation includes UTF-8 character encoding validation.

Ref: 719