> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cockroachlabs.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# FLOAT

export const InternalLink = ({version, path = "", children, ...props}) => {
  let detectedVersion = version || "stable";
  if (typeof window !== 'undefined' && !version) {
    const match = window.location.pathname.match(/\/docs\/([^/]+)/);
    if (match) {
      detectedVersion = match[1];
    }
  }
  const normalizedPath = path.startsWith("/") ? path.slice(1) : path;
  return <a href={`/docs/${detectedVersion}/${normalizedPath}`} {...props}>
      {children}
    </a>;
};

CockroachDB supports various inexact, floating-point number <InternalLink path="data-types">data types</InternalLink> with up to 17 digits of decimal precision.

They are handled internally using the [standard double-precision (64-bit binary-encoded) IEEE754 format](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_floating_point).

## Names and Aliases

| Name               | Aliases  |
| ------------------ | -------- |
| `FLOAT`            | None     |
| `REAL`             | `FLOAT4` |
| `DOUBLE PRECISION` | `FLOAT8` |

## Syntax

A constant value of type `FLOAT` can be entered as a <InternalLink path="sql-constants#numeric-literals">numeric literal</InternalLink>.
For example: `1.414` or `-1234`.

The special IEEE754 values for positive infinity, negative infinity
and [NaN (Not-a-Number)](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/NaN) cannot be
entered using numeric literals directly and must be converted using an
<InternalLink path="sql-constants#interpreted-literals">interpreted literal</InternalLink> or an
<InternalLink path="scalar-expressions#explicit-type-coercions">explicit conversion</InternalLink>
from a string literal instead.

The following values are recognized:

| Syntax                                 | Value                                                |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| `inf`, `infinity`, `+inf`, `+infinity` | +∞                                                   |
| `-inf`, `-infinity`                    | -∞                                                   |
| `nan`                                  | [NaN (Not-a-Number)](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/NaN) |

For example:

* `FLOAT '+Inf'`
* `'-Inf'::FLOAT`
* `CAST('NaN' AS FLOAT)`

## Size

A `FLOAT` column supports values up to 8 bytes in width, but the total storage size is likely to be larger due to CockroachDB metadata.

## Examples

```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
> CREATE TABLE floats (a FLOAT PRIMARY KEY, b REAL, c DOUBLE PRECISION);
```

```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
> SHOW COLUMNS FROM floats;
```

```
  column_name | data_type | is_nullable | column_default | generation_expression |  indices  | is_hidden
--------------+-----------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------+-----------+------------
  a           | FLOAT8    |    false    | NULL           |                       | {primary} |   false
  b           | FLOAT4    |    true     | NULL           |                       | {primary} |   false
  c           | FLOAT8    |    true     | NULL           |                       | {primary} |   false
(3 rows)
```

```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
> INSERT INTO floats VALUES (1.012345678901, 2.01234567890123456789, CAST('+Inf' AS FLOAT));
```

```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
> SELECT * FROM floats;
```

```
+----------------+--------------------+------+
|       a        |         b          |  c   |
+----------------+--------------------+------+
| 1.012345678901 | 2.0123456789012346 | +Inf |
+----------------+--------------------+------+
(1 row)
# Note that the value in "b" has been limited to 17 digits.
```

## Supported casting and conversion

`FLOAT` values can be <InternalLink path="data-types#data-type-conversions-and-casts">cast</InternalLink> to any of the following data types:

| Type      | Details                                                                                                                                               |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `INT`     | Rounds the float to the nearest integer. If equidistant to two integers, rounds to the even integer. See [Cast `FLOAT` to `INT`](#cast-float-to-int). |
| `DECIMAL` | Causes an error to be reported if the value is NaN or +/- Inf.                                                                                        |
| `BOOL`    | **0** converts to `false`; any other value converts to `true`.                                                                                        |
| `STRING`  | --                                                                                                                                                    |

### Cast `FLOAT` to `INT`

If you cast a float to an integer, it is rounded to the nearest integer. If it is equidistant to two integers, it is rounded to the even integer.

For example:

```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
SELECT f::INT FROM (VALUES (-1.5::FLOAT), (-0.5::FLOAT), (0.5::FLOAT), (1.5::FLOAT)) v(f);
```

```
  f
------
  -2
   0
   0
   2
```

## See also

<InternalLink path="data-types">Data Types</InternalLink>