-- base table with null data DROP TABLE IF EXISTS base_tab; CREATE TABLE base_tab(a STRING, b STRING, c STRING, d STRING) STORED AS TEXTFILE; LOAD DATA LOCAL INPATH '../../data/files/null.txt' INTO TABLE base_tab; DESCRIBE EXTENDED base_tab; dfs ${system:test.dfs.mkdir} ${system:test.tmp.dir}/hive_test/nullformat/tmp; dfs -rmr ${system:test.tmp.dir}/hive_test/nullformat/*; INSERT OVERWRITE LOCAL DIRECTORY '${system:test.tmp.dir}/hive_test/nullformat' ROW FORMAT DELIMITED NULL DEFINED AS 'fooNull' SELECT a,b FROM base_tab; dfs -cat ${system:test.tmp.dir}/hive_test/nullformat/000000_0; -- load the exported data back into a table with same null format and verify null values DROP TABLE IF EXISTS null_tab2; CREATE TABLE null_tab2(a STRING, b STRING) ROW FORMAT DELIMITED NULL DEFINED AS 'fooNull'; LOAD DATA LOCAL INPATH '${system:test.tmp.dir}/hive_test/nullformat/000000_0' INTO TABLE null_tab2; SELECT * FROM null_tab2; dfs -rmr ${system:test.tmp.dir}/hive_test/nullformat; DROP TABLE base_tab;