Informix Error -496

Reasons / Common Causes

-496 is the LC_NUMERIC counterpart of -492/-494/-495: the same class of NLS-environment- configuration error, here for the locale category governing numeric formatting (decimal points, digit grouping separators), rather than collation, character classification, or monetary formatting.

1. A typo or misspelling in the LANG/LC_NUMERIC value.
2. A locale string not supported by the server's NLS configuration, even if valid in general OS terms.
3. Other locale categories correctly configured but LC_NUMERIC overlooked or mismatched — each is configured independently.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Verify the exact value expected for the specific NLS-enabled database being connected to, consistent with the pattern for the other locale categories.
2. Check for typos in the LANG/LC_NUMERIC environment variable's current value.
3. Check all relevant locale categories together (LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MONETARY, LC_NUMERIC) when configuring environment variables for an NLS-enabled database.

Examples

Checking current environment variable values

echo $LANG
echo $LC_NUMERIC
-- compare against the exact value the target NLS-enabled
-- database actually requires for numeric formatting

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check the current values of LANG and LC_NUMERIC.
2. Compare against the specific value the target database's NLS configuration requires.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -495 — "LANG or LC_MONETARY environment variable invalid." The identical underlying issue, for LC_MONETARY instead of LC_NUMERIC.
• -492 — "LANG or LC_COLLATE environment variable invalid." The identical underlying issue, for LC_COLLATE instead of LC_NUMERIC.

Same pattern as the other NLS locale-category errors — each category is configured independently, so check LC_NUMERIC specifically rather than assuming the others being correct implies this one is too.