SQL*Loader datatypes can be grouped into portable and nonportable datatypes. Within each of these two groups, the datatypes are subgrouped into value datatypes and length-value datatypes.
Portable versus nonportable refers to whether or not the datatype is platform dependent. Platform dependency can exist for a number of reasons, including differences in the byte ordering schemes of different platforms (big endian versus little endian), differences in the number of bits in a platform (16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit), differences in signed number representation schemes (2's complement versus 1's complement), and so on. In some cases, such as with byte ordering schemes and platform word length, SQL*Loader provides mechanisms to help overcome platform dependencies. These mechanisms are discussed in the descriptions of the appropriate datatypes.
Both portable and nonportable datatypes can be values or length-values. Value datatypes assume that a data field has a single part. Length-value datatypes require that the data field consist of two subfields where the length subfield specifies how long the value subfield can be.
Nonportable Datatypes
Nonportable datatypes are grouped into value datatypes and length-value datatypes. The nonportable value datatypes are as follows:
INTEGER(n)
SMALLINT
FLOAT
DOUBLE
BYTEINT
ZONED
(packed) DECIMAL