Answer: VARIANT

The VARIANT data type in Snowflake is specifically designed to handle semi-structured data formats like JSON, Avro, Parquet, ORC, and XML without requiring explicit schema definition. It automatically parses and stores the hierarchical structure, allowing direct querying of nested elements. TEXT and VARCHAR are for string data and don't preserve structure, while VARBINARY is for binary data and also doesn't handle semi-structured formats natively. The community discussion shows 100% consensus on B (VARIANT) with upvoted comments confirming it's the correct choice for loading semi-structured data without explicit schema definition.

Author: LeetQuiz Editorial Team