Always show decimal places in SQL?

Question

Hi, I'm working on a query which returns numeric values (currency). Some of the values are whole numbers and are being displayed as 3, 5, 2 etc whilst other numbers are coming up like 2.52, 4.50 etc.

How can I force oracle to always show the decimal places?

Thanks

Answer 1

The display and formatting of the data should be handled at the presentation layer - not the data one.

Use the facilities provided by your front end to format the values as you see fit.

Answer 2

TO_CHAR(pAmount, '9,999,999.99');

http://www.techonthenet.com/oracle/functions/to_char.php

http://www.ss64.com/orasyntax/to_char.html

Answer 3

In SQL*Plus you can use the COLUMN directive to specify formatting on a per-column basis, separate from the query itself. That way you keep your query "clean" for possible other uses and still get your formatting. (In SQL*Plus at least...)

e.g

COLUMN SAL FORMAT 99,990.99

Google for "SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference" and you should get links to the Oracle location for your Oracle version. 10.1 is here if that'll do. They'll probably all be about the same, mind you: I don't think SQL*Plus has changed much since I learned it in 1988 on Oracle 5.1.17...