To ensure that you specify the length of character variables correctly, use the following guidelines: o For the C language, any character variables that correspond to character data type columns must be defined as the length of the longest valid column value in octets, plus 1 octet to allow for the null terminator. o For other languages supported by the SQL precompiler, any character variables that correspond to character data type columns must be defined as the length of the longest valid column value in octets. o When calculating the length of the longest valid column value, you must take into consideration whether the SQL precompiler interprets the length of columns in characters or octets. A program can control how the SQL precompiler interprets the length of columns in the following ways: - The CHARACTER LENGTH clause of the DECLARE MODULE statement - The DIALECT clause of the DECLARE MODULE statement - For dynamic SQL, the SET CHARACTER LENGTH statement