SQL Reference

Datetime Assignments

The basic rule for datetime assignments is that a DATE, TIME, or TIMESTAMP value may only be assigned to a column with a matching data type (whether DATE, TIME, or TIMESTAMP) or to a fixed- or varying-length character string variable or string column. The assignment must not be to a LONG VARCHAR, BLOB, or CLOB variable or column.

When a datetime value is assigned to a character string variable or string column, conversion to a string representation is automatic. Leading zeros are not omitted from any part of the date, time, or timestamp. The required length of the target will vary, depending on the format of the string representation. If the length of the target is greater than required, and the target is a fixed-length string, it is padded on the right with blanks. If the length of the target is less than required, the result depends on the type of datetime value involved, and on the type of target.

When the target is a host variable, the following rules apply:

• For a DATE: If the variable length is less than 10 bytes, an error occurs.
• For a TIME: If the USA format is used, the length of the variable must not be less than 8; in other formats the length must not be less than 5.

  If ISO or JIS formats are used, and if the length of the host variable is less than 8, the seconds part of the time is omitted from the result and assigned to the indicator variable, if provided. The SQLWARN1 field of the SQLCA is set to indicate the omission.

• For a TIMESTAMP: If the host variable is less than 19 bytes, an error occurs. If the length is less than 26, but greater than or equal to 19 bytes, trailing digits of the microseconds part of the value are omitted. The SQLWARN1 field of the SQLCA is set to indicate the omission.

For further information on string lengths for datetime values, see Datetime Values.