Number Literals

Data Types and SubtypesData Definition (DDL) Statements

Number Literals

A number literal is any valid number in a supported notation:

In SQL, for numbers in the standard decimal notation, the decimal point is always represented by period character (‘.’, full-stop, dot);thousands are not separated.Inclusion of commas, blanks, etc. will cause errors.
Exponential notation is supported.For example, 0.0000234 can be expressed as 2.34e-5.However, while the literal 0.0000234 is a NUMERIC(18,7), the literal 2.34e-5 is a DOUBLE PRECISION.
Hexadecimal notation — see below.

The format of the literal decides the type (<d> for a decimal digit, <h> for a hexadecimal digit):

Format Type

Format	Type
`<d>[<d> …]`	`INTEGER`, `BIGINT`, `INT128` or `DECFLOAT(34)` (depends on if value fits in the type).`DECFLOAT(34)` is used for values that do not fit in `INT128`.
`0{x\|X} <h>[<h> …]`	`INTEGER` for 1-8 <h>, or `BIGINT` for 9-16 <h>, `INT128` for 17-32 <h>
`<d>[<d> …] "." [<d> …]`	`NUMERIC(18, n)`, `NUMERIC(38, n)` or `DECFLOAT(34)` where n depends on the number of digits after the decimal point, and precision on the total number of digits. For backwards compatibility, some values of 19 digits are mapped to `NUMERIC(18, n)`.`DECFLOAT(34)` is used when the unscaled value does not fit in `INT128`.
`<d>[<d> …]["." [<d> …]] E <d>[<d> …]`	`DOUBLE PRECISION` or `DECFLOAT(34)`, where `DECFLOAT` is used only if the number of digits is 20 or higher, or the absolute exponent is 309 or greater.

<d>[<d> …]

INTEGER, BIGINT, INT128 or DECFLOAT(34) (depends on if value fits in the type).DECFLOAT(34) is used for values that do not fit in INT128.

0{x|X} <h>[<h> …]

INTEGER for 1-8 <h>, or BIGINT for 9-16 <h>, INT128 for 17-32 <h>

<d>[<d> …] "." [<d> …]

NUMERIC(18, n), NUMERIC(38, n) or DECFLOAT(34) where n depends on the number of digits after the decimal point, and precision on the total number of digits.

For backwards compatibility, some values of 19 digits are mapped to NUMERIC(18, n).DECFLOAT(34) is used when the unscaled value does not fit in INT128.

<d>[<d> …]["." [<d> …]] E <d>[<d> …]

DOUBLE PRECISION or DECFLOAT(34), where DECFLOAT is used only if the number of digits is 20 or higher, or the absolute exponent is 309 or greater.

Hexadecimal Notation for Numbers

Integer values can also be entered in hexadecimal notation.Numbers with 1-8 hex digits will be interpreted as type INTEGER;numbers with 9-16 hex digits as type BIGINT;numbers with 17-32 hex digits as type INT128.

Syntax

0{x|X}<hexdigits>

<hexdigits>  ::=  1-32 of <hexdigit>
<hexdigit>   ::=  one of 0..9, A..F, a..f

Examples

select 0x6FAA0D3 from rdb$database           -- returns 117088467
select 0x4F9 from rdb$database               -- returns 1273
select 0x6E44F9A8 from rdb$database          -- returns 1850014120
select 0x9E44F9A8 from rdb$database          -- returns -1639646808 (an INTEGER)
select 0x09E44F9A8 from rdb$database         -- returns 2655320488 (a BIGINT)
select 0x28ED678A4C987 from rdb$database     -- returns 720001751632263
select 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF from rdb$database  -- returns -1