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Troubleshooting
Problem
Getting 'SQL0420N Invalid character found in a character string argument of the function "DECFLOAT". SQLSTATE=22018' using plus '+' symbol to perform string concatenation in an expression.
Symptom
In DB2 v9.5 running a command similar to the following:
- db2 "values ('hello '+'to me')"
will fail and return the following error message:
- SQL0402N The data type of an operand of an arithmetic function or operation "+" is not numeric. SQLSTATE=42819
However, in v9.7, there is implicit casting. As part of this new functionality, DB2 will try to convert strings to decfloat, run a math operation on them, and convert it back to a string. Because of this, running the following:
- db2 "values ('hello '+'to me')"
will fail and return the following error message:
- SQL0420N Invalid character found in a character string argument of the function "DECFLOAT". SQLSTATE=22018
[{"Product":{"code":"SSEPGG","label":"Db2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Component":"Compiler - Query Rewrite","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"},{"code":"PF010","label":"HP-UX"},{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF027","label":"Solaris"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"9.7;9.5","Edition":"Advanced Enterprise Server;Enterprise Server;Express;Express-C;Workgroup Server","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB10","label":"Data and AI"}}]
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Document Information
More support for:
Db2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows
Software version:
9.7, 9.5
Operating system(s):
AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows
Document number:
407835
Modified date:
30 April 2025
UID
swg21448700
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