Archives of the TeradataForum

Message Posted: Fri, 07 Mar 2008 @ 15:01:41 GMT

	<Prev	Next>		<<First	<Prev	Next>	Last>>

<-- Anonymously Posted: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 08:52 -->

The "Max Length" for a DECIMAL field reflects how the data is stored within the row, inside the database. The external format will depend on the client platform and CAST / FORMAT applied, and possibly MAXDECIMAL setting in DBSControl. It could be shorter or longer than the "Max Length" from HELP TABLE.

Teradata does not use "packed decimal" storage format internally. It actually stores DECIMAL values as if they were binary integers (BYTEINT, SMALLINT, etc. depending on the number of digits precision you specify). Adjustments are made for the scale (position of the decimal point) when doing calculations.

	<Prev	Next>		<<First	<Prev	Next>	Last>>