Data Type:
 
                            (1)
|--+-| Built-In Data Type |-------------------------+-----------|
   |  (2)   (3)                              (4)    |
   '------------+-| User-Defined Data Type |------+-'
                |                       (5)       |
                '-| Complex Data Type |-----------'
 

1. See Built-In Data Types
2. Informix extension
3. Dynamic Server only
4. See User-Defined Data Type (IDS)
5. See Complex Data Type (IDS)

Sections that follow summarize these data types. For more information, see the chapter about data types in the IBM Informix Guide to SQL: Reference.

Built-in data types are data types that are defined by the database server.

Built-In Data Type:
 
                             (1)
|--+-| Character Data Type |----------------+-------------------|
   |                       (2)              |
   +-| Numeric Data Type |------------------+
   |  (3)                              (4)  |
   +--------| Large-Object Data Type |------+
   |                    (5)                 |
   +-| Time Data Type |---------------------+
   |  (6)                                   |
   '--------BOOLEAN-------------------------'
 

1. See Character Data Types
2. See Numeric Data Types
3. Informix extension
4. See Large-Object Data Types
5. See Time Data Types
6. Dynamic Server only

These are "built into the database server" in the sense that the information and support functions required to interpret and transfer these data types is part of the database server software, which supports character, numeric, large-object, and time categories of built-in data types. These are described in sections that follow.