Informix Error -1201: Number is too small for a DECIMAL data type.

Reasons / Common Causes

-1201 is the mirror image of -1200: it fires when a number's magnitude falls below what DECIMAL can represent — per the official guidance, DECIMAL supports absolute values between 1.000E-130 and 1.000E+126; 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 1.000E-130, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
2. An arithmetic operation (division, exponentiation) 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 — no rescaling of DECIMAL itself extends its 1.000E-130 floor.

Examples

An underflowing computation

DEFINE v_result DECIMAL(32);
LET v_result = 1e-100 / 1e50;
-- -1201: the quotient (1e-150) falls below DECIMAL's 1.000E-130 magnitude floor

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check the actual magnitude of the value involved against DECIMAL's 1.000E-130 lower bound.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -1200 — "Number is too large for a DECIMAL data type." The mirror-image restriction: a value above DECIMAL's maximum magnitude rather than below its minimum.

A nonzero value's magnitude fell below DECIMAL's 1.000E-130 floor — review the computation or literal that produced it.