storing numbers

[robbiew1967]

can anyone tell me in programming terms what would be the best way to store this number 142FER4645 (payroll number)

many thanks

[Paul Komski]

What is best depends on which parts of it you are going to most commonly want to access, manipulate and sort and whether you don't want to "waste" any storage bits.

If you want to store it as a single entity (or keep it of fixed length and with any numeric parts thus having leading zeros) then you must store it as a text string.

The left three characters and the right four characters could be saved as numeric integer, single or double values (with each of these using up more memory per value).

Whether stored as three fields or as one field the constituent parts can be reassembled using all the basic string manipulation techniques.

[robbiew1967]

i do not need to manipulate the information nor do i need to access it i just need to know by example how anyone would think it best to store the number 142FER4645 (payroll number)

many thanks

[jimmy5k]

i'd suggest a simple string. it allows for room to expand. i assume it's going to be like a primary key in a database. also what language?

[inkedmn]

agreed, use a string (unless you're using sql, then use a varchar).

Brett

[robbiew1967]

the language would be VB mmany thanks for all your help on this one so far



Andy

[Mr Red]

a BYTE array (stored as ASCII) would use about as many bytes if the length was always fixed, a string in best for an unknown length but needs more thought if you then want to tease-out parts of the value (eg 3rd character). Is it VB or VBA (eg Excel or Access)? because often keeping the value in a visible form (in a cell) is so much easier to fault find. If you are asking the question you must be a novice.

[Whyzman]

If you are asking the question you must be a novice.

I'm not understanding what point you are trying to make...would you please explain?