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Informix Error -1347: Number is too small for a DECIMAL data type.

Cause and resolution

Number is too small for a DECIMAL data type.

The DECIMAL data type accommodates numbers from 10 to the -130th power through 10 to the 124th power in absolute value. The precision (number of significant digits) varies from 1 to 32; however, the source of this error is not the length of the number but its magnitude.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-1347 is the mirror image of -1346: it fires when a number's magnitude falls below what DECIMAL can represent under 4GL — per the official guidance, DECIMAL accommodates absolute values from 10^-130 through 10^124; this error is specifically about the value's magnitude being too small (too close to zero), not its digit count.

  1. A computed or literal nonzero value with an absolute magnitude smaller than 10^-130, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
  2. An arithmetic operation that underflows DECIMAL's lower bound, even though each individual operand was within range.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Review the computation or literal producing the undersized value, per the official guidance, and confirm it's actually the intended magnitude.
  2. If the value is genuinely correct, reconsider whether DECIMAL is the right data type for values at this scale.
Examples
An underflowing computation
DEFINE v_result DECIMAL(32);
LET v_result = 1e-100 / 1e50;
-- -1347: the quotient's magnitude falls below DECIMAL's documented lower bound
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the actual magnitude of the value involved against DECIMAL's documented lower bound for the version/product context in use.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -1201 — "Number is too small for a DECIMAL data type." The same-named SQL-engine error, sharing the 10^-130 lower bound with -1347's 4GL-documented one.
  • -1346 — "Number is too large for a DECIMAL data type." The mirror-image restriction, for magnitude above DECIMAL's maximum rather than below its minimum.

A nonzero value's magnitude fell below DECIMAL's 10^-130 floor — review the computation or literal that produced it.