As with the integer data type, EQUEL must know the size of real data to manipulate variables of type real. Two sizes of real data are acceptable to EQUEL: four-byte variables (the default) and eight-byte variables. Again, you can change the default size with a flag on the preprocessor command line—in this case, the -r flag. For example:

instructs EQUEL to treat all real variables as eight-byte quantities. You can explicitly override the default or the -r size by using the BASIC subtype words single or double in a variable declaration. For example, the following two declarations

create EQUEL real variables of four and eight bytes, respectively, regardless of the default setting.

A real variable can be used in EQUEL statements to assign or receive numeric data (both real and integer) to and from database columns, form fields and table field columns. It cannot be used to specify numeric objects, such as table field row numbers.