A built-in data type is a fundamental data type that the database server defines. A fundamental data type is atomic; that is, it cannot be broken into smaller pieces. Built-in data types serve as building blocks for other data types. Table 5 summarizes the built-in data types that the database server provides.
| Data Type | Explanation |
|---|---|
| BLOB | Stores binary data in smart large objects in a format that supports random access |
| BOOLEAN | Stores the Boolean values for true and false |
| BYTE | Stores binary data in chunks that are not random access |
| CHAR(n) | Stores single-byte or multibyte sequences of characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols of fixed length Collation is code-set dependent. |
| CHARACTER(n) | Is a synonym for CHAR |
| CHARACTER VARYING(m,r) | Is an ANSI-compliant version of the VARCHAR data type |
| CLOB | Stores text in smart large objects in a format that supports random access |
| DATE | Stores a calendar date |
| DATETIME | Stores a calendar date combined with the time of day |
| DEC | Is a synonym for DECIMAL |
| DECIMAL | Stores numbers with definable scale and precision |
| DOUBLE PRECISION | Behaves the same way as FLOAT |
| FLOAT(n) | Stores double-precision floating-point numbers that correspond to the double data type in C (on most platforms) |
| INT | Is a synonym for INTEGER |
| INT8 | Stores an 8-byte integer value These whole numbers can be in the range -(263-1) to 263-1. |
| INTEGER | Stores whole numbers from -(231-1) to 231-1 |
| INTERVAL | Stores a span of time |
| LVARCHAR | Stores single-byte or multibyte strings of letters, numbers, and symbols of varying length to a maximum of 32 kilobytes It is also the external storage format for opaque data types. Collation is code-set dependent. |
| MONEY(p,s) | Stores a currency amount |
| NCHAR(n) | Stores single-byte and multibyte sequences of characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols Collation is locale dependent. For more information, see the IBM Informix: GLS User's Guide. |
| NUMERIC(p,s) | Is a synonym for DECIMAL |
| NVARCHAR(m,r) | Stores single-byte and multibyte sequences of characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols of varying length to a maximum of 255 bytes Collation is locale dependent. For more information, see the IBM Informix: GLS User's Guide. |
| REAL | Is a synonym for SMALLFLOAT |
| SERIAL | Stores sequential integers; has the same range of values as INTEGER |
| SERIAL8 | Stores large sequential integers; has the same range of values as INT8 |
| SMALLFLOAT | Stores single-precision floating-point numbers that correspond to the float data type in C (on most platforms) |
| SMALLINT | Stores whole numbers from -(215-1) to 215-1 |
| TEXT | Stores text data in chunks that are not random access |
| VARCHAR(m,r) | Stores single-byte or multibyte strings of letters, numbers, and symbols of varying length to a maximum of 255 bytes Collation is code-set dependent. |