Timestamp problem

UNIX for Beginners Q & A UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
1

I have a date/timestamp problem I can't figure out. I have an Oracle table with a column DEL_TIMESTAMP defined as a NUMBER. The min and max values in the column are:

6.3417E+17
6.3470E+17

the bottom value is: 634700000000000000

Is this the time since the epoch? How does this represent date/time?

any helped is appreicated.

thanks.

2

As I type this, the current epoch time in seconds is:
1334761483

or formatted to see how many digits:
1,334,761,483
so only ten digits.

Thus, no idea what a 17 digits number would represent. Maybe seconds since the dinosaurs ruled the planet?

3

This is a field display overflow. The number is being displayed as an exponential because the display field is not wide enough. It has probably come from a program error. Time to look at the code.