Calling Number Functions

This section describes the number functions that you can call in a query. The operations you can perform are

Converting an Object to a Number

In some situations, you might want to force a numeric comparison. The XPath processor performs a numeric comparison if either operand is numeric and neither is Boolean. (If one operand is Boolean, the XPath processor converts the other to Boolean and performs a Boolean comparison.) However, if neither operand is a numeric or Boolean value, you can call the number() function on one operand to convert it to a numeric value. The XPath processor automatically converts the other operand to a numeric value.

To perform a numeric comparison, you must call the number() function to convert a Boolean operand, if there is one, to a numeric value.

The format of the number() function is

number number(object?)  

To obtain the sum of the values of the nodes in a set, call the sum() function. The format is

number sum(node-set)  

Obtaining the Largest, Smallest, or Closest Number

To obtain the largest integer that is not greater than a particular number, call the floor() function. The format is

number floor(number)  

To obtain the smallest integer that is not less than a particular number, call the ceiling() function. The format is

number ceiling(number)  

To obtain the closest integer to a particular number, call the round() function. The format is

number round(number)