James Harper <james.harper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > I want to make a float(n) type that emulates the mssql float type. The > storage requirements are documented as 4 bytes for 1 <= n <=24, and 8 > bytes for 25 <= n <= 53. Haven't we got that already? regression=# create table t1 (f1 float(5), f2 float(30)); CREATE TABLE regression=# \d t1 Table "public.t1" Column | Type | Modifiers --------+------------------+----------- f1 | real | f2 | double precision | Other than the fact that we don't remember whether you asked for 5 bits or 24, I think this meets the spec requirements. > If I understand correctly, my options for > emulating this in postgres are: 1. declare as variable length. Storage > is then 8 bytes (4 byte length + 4 byte storage), or 12 bytes (4 byte > length + 8 byte storage). Well, you could use a short varlena header (1 byte). The type doesn't need to be int-aligned, either, though whether that buys anything will depend on context --- and you'll need to spend cycles realigning it, if you want the code to work on non-Intel architectures. regards, tom lane -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general