abs-transact-sql.md

title	ABS (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs
ms.custom
ms.date	07/24/2017
ms.prod	sql-non-specified
ms.reviewer
ms.suite
ms.technology	database-engine
ms.tgt_pltfrm
ms.topic	language-reference
f1_keywords	ABS_TSQL ABS
dev_langs	TSQL
helpviewer_keywords	values [SQL Server], positive values [SQL Server], absolute ABS function absolute positive value
ms.assetid	e2ea7a6d-3e2f-472c-afbc-437d3b835c03
caps.latest.revision	44
author	BYHAM
ms.author	rickbyh
manager	jhubbard

ABS (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDEtsql-appliesto-ss2008-all_md]

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 )  

Arguments

numeric_expression
Is an expression of the exact numeric or approximate numeric data type category.

Return Types

Returns the same type as numeric_expression.

Examples

The following example shows the results of using the ABS function on three different numbers.

SELECT ABS(-1.0), ABS(0.0), ABS(1.0);  

[!INCLUDEssResult]

---- ---- ----  
1.0  .0   1.0  

The ABS function can produce an overflow error when the absolute value of a number is greater than the largest number that can be represented by the specified data type. For example, the int data type can hold only values that range from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647. Computing the absolute value for the signed integer -2,147,483,648 causes an overflow error because its absolute value is greater than the positive range for the int data type.

DECLARE @i int;  
SET @i = -2147483648;  
SELECT ABS(@i);  
GO  

Here is the 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)