Hacker’s Guide to Visual FoxPro
An irreverent look at how Visual FoxPro really works. Tells you the inside scoop on every command, function, property, event and method of Visual FoxPro.
ABS(), SIGN()
These two functions let you take the sign off a number.
Usage
nAbsoluteValue = ABS( nValue )
nSign = SIGN( nValue )
ABS() returns the absolute value of the number, that is, the number without the sign. SIGN() does the reverse and returns the sign without the number—it uses 1, 0 and -1 to represent positive, zero and negative signs, respectively. ABS() and SIGN() work on all four number types: currency, double, integer and numeric.
Example
? ABS(37) && returns 37
? ABS(-37) && returns 37
? SIGN(37) && returns 1
? SIGN(-37) && returns -1
? SIGN(0) && returns 0
ABS() and SIGN() both handle null values, returning .NULL.