ABS (Transact-SQL)
Applies to:
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
A mathematical function that returns the absolute (positive) value of the specified numeric expression. (ABS
changes negative values to positive values. ABS
has no effect on zero or positive values.)
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
ABS ( numeric_expression )
Note
To view Transact-SQL syntax for SQL Server 2014 (12.x) and earlier versions, see Previous versions documentation.
Arguments
numeric_expression
An expression of the exact numeric or approximate numeric data type category.
Return types
The return type depends on the input type of numeric_expression:
Input type | Return type |
---|---|
float, real | float |
decimal(p, s) | decimal(38, s) |
int, smallint, tinyint | int |
bigint | bigint |
money, smallmoney | money |
bit | float |
If the result does not fit in the return type, an arithmetic overflow error occurs.
Examples
This example shows the results of using the ABS
function on three different numbers.
SELECT ABS(-1.0), ABS(0.0), ABS(1.0);
Here is the result set.
---- ---- ----
1.0 .0 1.0
The ABS
function can produce an overflow error when the absolute value of a number exceeds the largest number that the specified data type can represent. For example, the int
data type has a value range from -2,147,483,648
to 2,147,483,647
. Computing the absolute value for the signed integer -2,147,483,648
will cause an overflow error because its absolute value exceeds the positive range limit for the int
data type.
DECLARE @i INT;
SET @i = -2147483648;
SELECT ABS(@i);
GO
Returns this error message:
"Msg 8115, Level 16, State 2, Line 3"
"Arithmetic overflow error converting expression to data type int."
See also
CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Mathematical Functions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)