Problem with truncation of suffixing zeros

Question

Hello friends,
I have a query regarding the below issue:
   SELECT TO_CHAR(12345.60, '99999D99'), TRUNC(15.80, 2), LPAD(RPAD (16408.80, 20, ' '), 10, ' ')
  FROM dual;
When I hit this query the, numeric value to be displayed in my report should be '16408.80', but when I use LPAD, RPAD the '.80' (zero) gets eliminated/truncated.
As per the above query can I get the desired output using LPAD/RPAD or without converting the number to character type  For ex. TO_CHAR(12345.60, '99999D99')

Answer 1

Hi,
Numbers do no have trailing 0's.  The following are all different strings that represent the same number:
16408.8
16408.0
16408.0000000000000000
The concept of trailing 0's only applies to strings.  If the concept applies to this situation, then use a string in this situation. For example, a string literal
RPAD ('16408.80', 10, ' ')
or the string returned by TO_CHAR:
RPAD (TO_CHAR (16408.80, 'FM9999999.00'), 10, ' ')
By the way,
LPAD (x, 10, ' ')
is guaranteed to return a string exactly 10 characters long.  If x is 20 characters long (as the string returned by RPAD (y, 20, ' ') is guaranteed to be), then LPAD will only remove the last 10 characters.  Why add them in the first place?