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Informix Error -1200: Number is too large for a DECIMAL data type.

Cause and resolution

Number is too large for a DECIMAL data type.

The float DECIMAL data type accommodates numbers greater than or equal to 1.000E-130 and less than 1.000E+126 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

-1200 fires when a number's magnitude exceeds what DECIMAL can represent — per the official guidance, DECIMAL supports absolute values between 1.000E-130 and 1.000E+126, with 1 to 32 significant digits of precision; this error is specifically about the value's magnitude being too large, not its digit count.

  1. A computed or literal value with an absolute magnitude greater than 1.000E+126, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
  2. An arithmetic operation (multiplication, exponentiation) that overflows DECIMAL's upper bound, even though each individual operand was within range.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Review the computation or literal producing the oversized 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 — no rescaling of DECIMAL itself extends its 1.000E+126 ceiling.
Examples
An overflowing computation
DEFINE v_result DECIMAL(32);
LET v_result = 1e100 * 1e50;
-- -1200: the product (1e150) exceeds DECIMAL's 1.000E+126 magnitude limit
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the actual magnitude of the value involved against DECIMAL's 1.000E+126 upper bound.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -1201 — "Number is too small for a DECIMAL data type." The mirror-image restriction: a value below DECIMAL's minimum magnitude rather than above its maximum.

A value's magnitude exceeded DECIMAL's 1.000E+126 ceiling — review the computation or literal that produced it.