SQL Getting Started

Special Registers

A special register is a storage area that is defined for a connection by the database manager and is used to store information that can be referenced in SQL statements. Following are a few examples of the more commonly used special registers. For a list of all the special registers and more detailed information refer to the SQL Reference.

• CURRENT DATE: Holds the date according to the time-of-day clock at SQL statement execution time.

• CURRENT FUNCTION PATH: Holds a value that specifies the function path used to resolve function and data type references.

• CURRENT SERVER: Specifies the current application server.

• CURRENT TIME: Holds the time according to the time-of-day clock at the SQL statement execution time.

• CURRENT TIMESTAMP: Specifies a timestamp according to the time-of-day clock at SQL statement execution time.

• CURRENT TIMEZONE: Specifies the difference between Coordinated Universal Time and local time at the application server.

• USER: Specifies the run-time authorization ID.

You can display the contents of a special register with the VALUES statement. For example:

     VALUES (CURRENT TIMESTAMP)

You could also use:

     SELECT CURRENT TIMESTAMP FROM ORG

and this will return the TIMESTAMP for every row entry in the table.

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