# ERC20 \`decimals\` , what if it's not present

**URL:** <https://forum.openzeppelin.com/t/erc20-decimals-what-if-its-not-present/9566>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [May 31, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://forum.openzeppelin.com/t/erc20-decimals-what-if-its-not-present/9566 "2021-05-31T17:22:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![novaknole](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.openzeppelin.com/novaknole/32/3796_2.png) [@novaknole](https://forum.openzeppelin.com/u/novaknole)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://forum.openzeppelin.com/t/erc20-decimals-what-if-its-not-present/9566/1 "2021-05-31T17:22:42Z")

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@abcoathup

Hey Andrew,

As we know, `decimals` is an optional parameter on ERC20…

I was wondering what if `decimals` is not set on a contract.

Does it mean that if I send 10 in the transfer function, it means that it actually transfers 10 - this all means that by default `decimals` is 0.

WDYT ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Skyge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.openzeppelin.com/skyge/32/343_2.png) [@Skyge](https://forum.openzeppelin.com/u/Skyge)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2021, 12:16am UTC](https://forum.openzeppelin.com/t/erc20-decimals-what-if-its-not-present/9566/2 "2021-06-02T00:16:27Z")

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Yeah, the default value of `decimals` is 18, if you want to set it as 0, you can rewrite the function `decimals` when your contract is inherited from OpenZeppelin ERC20 contract.  
And if decimals is equal to 0, when you transfer 10, it just means 10 token. But you should notice that, with a lower decimals, it may loss more