----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Harlan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2001 4:51
Subject: Quoting numbers? (was Re:MySQL Tables)
> > I think you'll get better results if you don't quote your numbers.
Quotes
> > should be used for text and dates (depending) but not numbers.
>
> Out of curiosity, why?
For starters, I've had problems in the past doing this - getting incorrect
results. Remove quotes and everything worked fine.
The other is that not all databases/languages accept quotes around numbers.
It's like comparing apples and oranges.
>
> We use quotes for numbers all the time here, for consistency's sake;
> the programmer doesn't have to worry about the representation of, say,
> a salesman_id, but just reads/displays/stores it in the database.
>
> Aside from the fact that leaving them off is possible, is there a
> standards/compatibility/other reason to do so?
>
> (An example of a good reason not to use them would be if the db engine
> weren't smart enough to use an index when you say
Exactly. Not cross compatible with some databases/languages though it should
be with today's databases.
>
> select * from table_name where numeric_key = '1234'
>
> but possibly (probably?) all dbms's are that smart.)
I have used 2 diff. databases during my studies which would not accept the
above because of quotes. Don't remember the names of the DBs but I do
remember one ran under DOS and the other under VAX/VMS.
>
> --Pete
>
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