NUMBER - numeric overflow

Question

Hi all,
I just want to ask about the precision and scale of NUMBER datatype in SQL Developer. It seems to me, that it doesn't have default values but it's defined as NUMBER(10, 0)...
This piece of code works fine in SQL Worksheet and SQL*Plus, but not in developer:
variable var number;
exec :var := 0.12345678901;
print :var;
VAR
0
variable var number;
exec :var := 12345678901;
print :var;
Error report: Numeric overflowIs this a standard and expected behavior? Is there any way how to change it (some configuration)?
Thanks,
ivoB

Answer 1

Hi Ivan,
There is currently no way I know of to configure the output format of a bind variable for run script. I guess this is because SQL Developer does not support "set numformat" yet. It appears to assume a NUMBER(10,0) format.
Let's change your example slightly and see what the difference is between Run Statement (Ctrl+Enter) versus Run Script (F5):
variable var number
column var format 9.999999999999
exec :var := 0.12345678901;
print :var;
select :var as xyz, 0.12345678901 as xyz from dual;
--Run Statement will prompt for the value of 'var', then display both bind and literal to 11 digit precision:
Row XYZ           XYZ_1
1   0.12345678901 0.12345678901
--Run Script truncates or overflows the bind variable as you say, but at least it respects the "col ... format" syntax:
anonymous block completed
VAR
0
XYZ           XYZ
.000000000000 .123456789010  SQL*Plus behaves as one would expect, depending on the value of numformat. For the decimal fraction case, it truncates to 10 digits if numformat is set to the default. Similarly, for the overflow case with a default numformat setting, it uses scientific notation:
       VAR
1.2346E+10I logged a bug:
Bug 13790813 - FORUM: BIND VARIABLES IN RUN SCRIPT LIMITED TO NUMFORMAT(10,0) RANGE
Regards,
Gary
SQL Developer Team