Background documentation External Data Types Locate the document in its SAP Library structure

External data types are the data types that the SAP DB Loader can covert to internal database data types and to which the SAP DB Loader can convert the internal database data types when unloading application data.

You can specify an external data type as a field specification in the command to load or unload for each field value to be loaded or unloaded (format_spec).

You cannot specify an external data type in the commands TABLEEXTRACT and TABLELOAD.

If no external data type is specified for a field value, the SAP DB Loader selects the CHAR data type as the default for this field value. Therefore, if the field value does not have the data type CHAR or the data type CHAR is not desired, you must specify the data type.

The SAP DB Loader can process the following external data types:

CHAR
(plain text value)

ASCII, UCS2, or UTF8-coded, depending on the server, max. 254 Bytes long

INTEGER
(Binary value)

Binary coded (server-specific), 1, 2, or 4 bytes long, sign in bit 0, negative values in two's complement notation

REAL
(Binary value)

Floating point notation with mantissa and exponent, 4 or 8 bytes long, in server-specific notation

DECIMAL
(Binary value)

Packed decimal: one digit per half byte, sign in extreme right half byte, 1 to 10 bytes long, maximum of 18 digits, the position of the decimal point is derived from the table column type

DECIMAL(n)
(Binary value)

n specifies the number of digits on the right of the decimal point

ZONED
(Binary value)

Zoned decimal: /370 zoned data format is permitted, the position of the decimal point is derived from the table column type

ZONED(n)
(Binary value)

n specifies the number of digits on the right of the decimal point