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Informix Error -1223: Value will not fit in a FLOAT.

Cause and resolution

Value will not fit in a FLOAT.

The FLOAT data type can accept numbers within a certain range of exponents. The maximum and minimum exponent values are different depending on the host operating system (the range is the same as that supported by the C compiler for double values in this host system). In the current statement, a constant number is being converted for storage in a FLOAT variable or column, and the exponent is too large or too small.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-1223 is the FLOAT counterpart to -1222's SMALLFLOAT case: it fires when a numeric constant's exponent exceeds what the platform's C compiler supports for double values — per the official guidance, FLOAT maps to C double, so the limit is platform-specific.

  1. A value with an exponent larger than the platform's double (C compiler) range, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause, at a far larger scale than -1222's SMALLFLOAT (C float) limit.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Reconsider whether the value's actual magnitude is correct, since exceeding double's exponent range is an extreme case — double-check the computation or literal that produced it.
  2. Use DECIMAL for very large or very small magnitudes, if genuinely needed, since DECIMAL's own range (1.000E-130 to 1.000E+126, per -1200/-1201) may or may not accommodate the value either — check against those bounds too.
Examples
An exponent beyond the platform's double range
DEFINE v_val FLOAT;
LET v_val = 1.0e400;
-- -1223: exceeds this platform's double (C compiler) exponent range
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the value's exponent against the platform's double (C compiler) range, and double-check the computation or literal that produced such an extreme value.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -1222 — "Value will not fit in a SMALLFLOAT." The SMALLFLOAT (C float) counterpart to this same kind of platform-specific exponent-range restriction.

The value's exponent exceeds the platform's double (C compiler) range for FLOAT — verify the value's actual intended magnitude.