Literals are fixed data values. For example, in the expression PRICE * 1.05, the value 1.05 is a constant. Literals are classified into types, including the following:

  • Binary
  • Character string
  • Date
  • Floating point
  • Integer
  • Numeric
  • Time
  • Timestamp

The following table describes the literal format for supported SQL data types.

Table 1. Literal Syntax Examples
SQL Type Literal Syntax Example
BIGINT n

where

n is any valid integer value in the range of the INTEGER data type		 12 or -34 or 0
BOOLEAN Min Value: 0

Max Value: 1

 0

1
DATE DATE'date' '2010-05-21'
DATETIME TIMESTAMP'ts' '2010-05-21 18:33:05.025'
DECIMAL n.f

where:

n

is the integral part

f

is the fractional part		 0.25

3.1415

-7.48
DOUBLE n.fEx

where:

n is the integral part

f is the fractional part

x is the exponent

 1.2E0 or 2.5E40 or -3.45E2 or 5.67E-4
INTEGER n

where n is a valid integer value in the range of the INTEGER data type

 12 or -34 or 0
LONGVARBINARY X'hex_value' '000482ff'
LONGVARCHAR 'value' 'This is a string literal'
TIME TIME'time' '2010-05-21 18:33:05.025'
VARCHAR 'value' 'This is a string literal'