Troubleshooting
Problem
Notice multiple dump.bin errors and SQL0420N Invalid character found in a character string argument of the function "DECFLOAT" in db2diag.log
Symptom
In DB2 V 9.7 FP 5 & in DB2 V 10.5 , a command similar to :
db2 "values ('SMS' + '.')" may result in
SQL0402N The data type of an operand of an arithmetic function or operation "+" is not numeric. SQLSTATE=42819
Cause
The function 'function-name' has a character string argument that contains a character that is not valid in a numeric SQL constant. The function may have been called as a result of using the CAST specification with 'function-name' as the target data type or when an argument is implicitly cast to a numeric data type such as DECFLOAT.
The function or data type used in the SQL statement may be a synonym for 'function-name'. Using the plus symbol in an expression causes query rewrite to apply a numeric function, such as DECFLOAT, to the expression. If there are strings in the expression, then applying a numeric function to strings subsequently fails with this message.
Resolving The Problem
If it can be identified in which part of the application, it uses('SMS' + '.'), correcting it to 'SMS'||'.' should be the solution.
Else need to trace to identify the query causing the error.
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Document Information
Modified date:
16 June 2018
UID
swg21998393