The function always returns the same result for the given inputs. Deterministic functions are evaluated by the engine as soon as all input values are known, which may occur as soon as the rewrite phase. Some functions, such as the lookup function, are not truly deterministic, but are treated as such for performance. All functions that are not categorized according to the remaining items in this list are considered deterministic.

The function returns the same result for the given inputs for the same user. This includes the hasRole and user functions. User deterministic functions are evaluated by the engine as soon as all input values are known, which may occur as soon as the rewrite phase. If a user deterministic function is evaluated during the creation of a prepared processing plan, then the resulting plan will be cached only for the user.

The function returns the same result for the given inputs under the same user session. This category includes the env function. Session deterministic functions are evaluated by the engine as soon as all input values are known, which may occur as soon as the rewrite phase. If a session deterministic function is evaluated during the creation of a prepared processing plan, then the resulting plan will be cached only for the user’s session.

The result of function evaluation is only deterministic within the scope of the user command. This category include the curdate, curtime, now, and commandpayload functions. Command deterministic functions are delayed in evaluation until processing to ensure that even prepared plans utilizing these functions will be executed with relevant values. Command deterministic function evaluation will occur prior to pushdown. However, multiple occurrences of the same command deterministic time function are not guaranteed to evaluate to the same value.

The result of function evaluation is fully nondeterministic. This category includes the rand function and UDFs marked as nondeterministic. Nondeterministic functions are delayed in evaluation until processing with a preference for pushdown. If the function is not pushed down, then it may be evaluated for every row in it’s execution context (for example, if the function is used in the select clause).