Informix Error -9062: An error has occurred during the conversion of a numeric value to a CHARACTER type user variable. The CHARACTER type variable is not long enough to hold the result.

Reasons / Common Causes

-9062 fires when converting a numeric value to a CHARACTER-type user variable produces more characters than the destination can hold — per the official guidance.

1. A CHARACTER destination variable too short for the converted numeric value, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause; ACEGO stops rather than truncate the result.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Redefine the destination variable to a sufficient length, per the official guidance.
2. Limit the size of the converted value, for example with a USING format string, per the official guidance.

Examples

An oversized numeric-to-character conversion

DEFINE result CHAR(5)
LET result = amount   -- -9062: amount converts to more than 5 characters

Corrected

DEFINE result CHAR(12)
LET result = amount USING "#####.##"

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check the destination variable's defined length against the maximum width the numeric conversion could produce, and widen the variable or constrain the value with USING.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -9049 — "A value entered as a command line parameter cannot be converted to the data type type." A related type-conversion error, on command-line parameters rather than numeric-to-CHARACTER assignment.

A numeric-to-CHARACTER conversion produced more characters than the destination variable could hold — widen the variable or constrain the value with USING.