Don't know if this helps you at all, but it 's helped me. It's an old rule-of-thumb about whether or not a value IS or IS NOT an Integer. Basically, it's like this, if you ain't gonna' add any of 'em together (or subtract), then it's not an Integer. For example, let's just add together each of our SSN's. Why? That's the point - it makes no sense.
So, I'd second Paul's suggestion to take a look at JDATE as part of your TEXT-type solution. Although (JDATE(.#DATE)) does indeed return an INT value, (CTXT(JDATE(.#DATE))) delivers TEXT values which can then be suffixed with whatever you need, assuming that the 'YYYYDDD' component would be of higher precedence when sorting and, therefore, the initial 6 characters in the TEXT value, such as '20090710MemphisTNWhatever'. The cool thing is that (CTXT(JDATE())) used in this way still sorts exactly like INTEGER and DATE values. Also, based on a quick little test at the R>, JDATE() returned CCYYDDD even when DATE Format was MM/DD/YY, so the values would not "roll over" after 10 years. I use it all the time, even naming files or folders. My 20090710_02_Cents_Worth, Steve in Memphis From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Niehaus Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 10:58am 10:58 To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Large integer values in Rbase v8 I am trying to track some large numbers and planned to use an integer type. The number can be 10 digits long but can not have any decimal values (all whole numbers). It seems like an integer works ok for an 9 digit number but does not work for a 10 digit number. I'm not sure how I can confirm this. Should an integer handle a 10 digit number and if not, what is a better option for a 9 digit number. Thanks. Bill
