to_number(to_char(:n))

Is it safe to do a TO_NUMBER(TO_CHAR(:n)) ?

var n number
exec :n := 9.9999999999999999999999999999999999e125
select to_number(to_char(:n)) from dual;
ORA-01722: invalid number

Why?
SQL Reference
If a positive NUMBER value is extremely large and cannot be represented in the specified format, then the infinity sign (~) replaces the value

select to_char(:n) from dual;
TO_CHAR(:N)
--------------
~

I wrote more about infinity here

2 thoughts on “to_number(to_char(:n))

Comments are closed.