A formal parameter that SQL uses to indicate the execution status of the SQL statement in the procedure. The SQLCODE formal parameter does not require a data type declaration; SQL automatically declares SQLCODE with an INTEGER data type. However, the calling program module must still declare an integer variable for the actual parameter that corresponds to SQLCODE. The SQLCODE parameter must be passed by reference. Oracle Rdb recommends that you use the SQLSTATE status parameter rather than SQLCODE. SQLSTATE complies with ANSI/ISO SQL standard and SQLCODE may be deprecated in a future release of Oracle Rdb. See the Oracle Rdb SQL Reference Manual for more information about SQLCODE.