A numeric function that returns the absolute value of a numeric expression.

ABS(numeric-expression)
{fn ABS(numeric-expression)}

ABS returns the absolute value, which is always zero or a positive number. ABS returns the same data type as numeric-expression. If numeric-expression is not a number (for example, the string 'abc') ABS returns 0. ABS returns NULL when passed a NULL value.

Note that ABS can be used as an ODBC scalar function (with the curly brace syntax) or as an SQL general function.

These examples show the effect of ABS on three numbers.

SELECT {fn ABS(99)}

returns 99.

SELECT {fn ABS(-99)}

returns 99.

SELECT {fn ABS(99.0)}

returns 99.0.

CONVERT