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REAL

Data Type Declaration Format
REAL

The data type REAL is a synonym for FLOAT, and is provided for syntax compatibility.When used to define a column or parameter, it’s indistinguishable from using FLOAT or FLOAT(1) — FLOAT(24).

Note
Compatibility Note

  • REAL has been available as a synonym for FLOAT since Firebird 1.0 and even earlier, but was never documented.

  • Most Firebird tools will report FLOAT instead of REAL.

DOUBLE PRECISION

Data Type Declaration Format
DOUBLE PRECISION

The DOUBLE PRECISION data type is stored with an approximate precision of 15 digits.

Note
Compatibility Notes

  • Firebird also has the — previously undocumented — synonyms for DOUBLE PRECISION: LONG FLOAT and LONG FLOAT(bin_prec), with 1 <= bin_prec <= 53.

    These non-standard type names are deprecated and may be removed in a future Firebird version.

  • Firebird 3.0 and earlier supported LONG FLOAT(dec_prec) where dec_prec was the approximate precision in decimal digits, where any value for dec_prec mapped to 64-bit double precision.