REAL scalar function

The REAL function returns a single-precision floating-point representation of either a number or a string representation of a number.

Numeric to REAL

String to REAL

The schema is SYSIBM.

Numeric to REAL

numeric-expression: An expression that returns a value of any built-in numeric data type.
The result is the same number that would occur if the argument were assigned to a single-precision floating-point column or variable. If the numeric value of the argument is not within the range of single-precision floating-point, an error is returned (SQLSTATE 22003).

String to REAL

string-expression

An expression that returns a value that is character-string or Unicode graphic-string representation of a number. The data type of string-expression must not be a CLOB or a DBCLOB (SQLSTATE 42884).

The result is the same number that would result from CAST(string-expression AS REAL). Leading and trailing blanks are eliminated and the resulting string must conform to the rules for forming a valid numeric constant (SQLSTATE 22018). If the numeric value of the argument is not within the range of single-precision floating-point, an error is returned (SQLSTATE 22003).

The result of the function is a single-precision floating-point number. If the argument can be null, the result can be null; if the argument is null, the result is the null value.

Notes

The CAST specification should be used to increase the portability of applications.

Example

Using the EMPLOYEE table, find the ratio of salary to commission for employees whose commission is not zero. The columns involved (SALARY and COMM) have DECIMAL data types. The required result is in single-precision floating point. Therefore, REAL is applied to SALARY so that the division is carried out in floating point (actually double-precision) and then REAL is applied to the complete expression to return the result in single-precision floating point.

   SELECT EMPNO, REAL(REAL(SALARY)/COMM)
     FROM EMPLOYEE
     WHERE COMM > 0