Character-string constants
A character-string constant specifies a varying-length
character string. The two forms of character-string constant follow:
- A sequence of characters that starts and ends with a string delimiter.
The number of bytes between the string delimiters cannot be greater than 32740.
Two consecutive string delimiters are used to represent one string delimiter
within the character string. Two consecutive string delimiters that are not
contained within a string represent the empty string.
- An X followed by a sequence of characters that starts and ends
with a string delimiter. The characters between the string delimiters must
be an even number of hexadecimal digits. Blanks between the string delimiters
are ignored. The number of hexadecimal digits must not exceed 32762. A hexadecimal
digit is a digit or any of the letters A through F (uppercase or lowercase).
Under the conventions of hexadecimal notation, each pair of hexadecimal digits
represents a character. This form of string constant allows you to specify
characters that do not have a keyboard representation.
Character-string constants can contain mixed data. If the job CCSID supports
mixed data, a character-string constant is classified as mixed data if it
includes a DBCS substring. In all other cases, a character-string constant
is classified as SBCS data.
The CCSID assigned to the constant is the CCSID of the source containing
the constant unless the source is encoded in a foreign encoding scheme (such
as ASCII). The data in the variable is converted from the foreign encoding
scheme to the default CCSID of the current server. In this case, the CCSID
assigned to the constant is the default CCSID of the current server.
The CCSID of the source is determined by the application requester. The
CCSID of the source is:
- For STRSQL, the default CCSID of the application requester
- For the RUNSQLSTM or STRREXPRC commands, the CCSID of the specified source
file
- For CRTSQLxxx:
- For static SQL, the CCSID of the source is the CCSID of the source file
used on the CRTSQLxxx command.
- For dynamic SQL, the CCSID of the source is the CCSID of the variable
specified on the PREPARE statement, or if a string constant is specified on
the PREPARE statement, the default CCSID of the current server.
Character-string constants are used to represent constant datetime values
in assignments and comparisons. For more information see String representations of datetime values.
Examples
'Peggy' '14.12.1990' '32' 'DON''T CHANGE' '' X'FFFF'
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