SQL$HELP72.HLB  —  SET_ANSI
    Specifies whether or not SQL behavior in certain instances
    complies with the ANSI/ISO SQL standard. The current default
    behavior in these instances is noncompliant.

                                   NOTE

       SQL provides the following new statements to replace the SET
       ANSI statement:

       o  SET DEFAULT DATE FORMAT replaces SET ANSI DATE; see the
          SET DEFAULT DATE FORMAT statement.

       o  SET KEYWORD RULES replaces SET ANSI IDENTIFIERS; see the
          SET_KEYWORD_RULES statement.

       o  SET QUOTING RULES replaces SET ANSI QUOTING; see the SET_
          QUOTING_RULES statement.

       o  SET VIEW UPDATE RULES is new; see the SET_VIEW_UPDATE_
          RULES statement.

       In addition, SQL provides the SET DIALECT statement to
       let you specify, with one statement, settings for all of
       these statements. See the SET_DIALECT statement for more
       information.

       SQL does not return a deprecated feature message if you use
       the SET ANSI statement.

1  –  Environment

    You can use the SET ANSI statement only in interactive SQL.

2  –  Format

  (B)0SET ANSI qwq> DATE qqqqqqqqwqw> ON qwq>  
            tq> IDENTIFIERS qu m> OFF j    
            mq> QUOTING qqqqqj             

3  –  Arguments

3.1  –  DATE

    ON | OFF

    Specifies the default interpretation for columns with the DATE
    data type, and the data type of the CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function.

    The DATE and CURRENT_TIMESTAMP data types, can be either VMS
    ADT or ANSI. By default, both data types are interpreted as DATE
    VMS. The VMS format contains YEAR TO SECOND fields, just as a
    TIMESTAMP does.

    You can change DATE and CURRENT_TIMESTAMP to ANSI format with
    the SET DEFAULT DATE FORMAT statement, the precompiler DEFAULT
    DATE FORMAT clause in a DECLARE MODULE statement embedded in a
    program, or the module language DEFAULT DATE FORMAT clause in a
    module file. The ANSI format DATE contains only the YEAR TO DAY
    fields.

    You must use the SET DEFAULT DATE FORMAT statement before
    creating domains or tables. You cannot use this statement to
    modify the data type once you have created a column or table.

3.2  –  IDENTIFIERS

    ON | OFF

    Specifies whether or not SQL checks statements that use reserved
    words as identifiers. If you specify SET ANSI IDENTIFIERS ON, SQL
    checks statements for reserved words from the ANSI/ISO standard.
    You must enclose reserved words in double quotation marks to
    supply them as identifiers in SQL statements. If you do not,
    SQL issues an informational message after such statements when
    you enable reserved-word checking. For a list of the reserved
    words deprecated as identifiers, see the Oracle Rdb SQL Reference
    Manual.

    When you specify SET ANSI IDENTIFIERS OFF, SQL does not check
    identifiers. By default, SQL does not check identifiers.

3.3  –  QUOTING

    ON | OFF

    Allows you to use double quotation marks to delimit the alias
    and catalog name pair in subsequent statements. By default,
    SQL syntax allows only single quotation marks. To comply with
    ANSI/ISO SQL standard naming conventions, ANSI QUOTING must be
    on. You must set ANSI QUOTING on to use multischema database
    naming.

4  –  Example

    Example 1: Setting CURRENT_TIMESTAMP to ANSI format

    In the following example, SQL issues an error message because
    CURRENT_TIMESTAMP is an ADT data type by default, and TIMESTAMP
    is an ANSI data type. The SET ANSI DATE ON statement changes the
    default CURRENT_TIMESTAMP to ANSI format.

    SQL> begin
    cont> declare :logging_date timestamp;
    cont> set :logging_date = current_timestamp;
    cont> trace :logging_date;
    cont> end;
    %SQL-F-UNSDATASS, Unsupported date/time assignment from <Source> to LOGGING_DATE
    SQL> SET ANSI DATE ON;
    SQL> begin
    cont> declare :logging_date timestamp;
    cont> set :logging_date = current_timestamp;
    cont> trace :logging_date;
    cont> end;

    Example 2: Using the SET ANSI IDENTIFIERS statement to check for
    reserved words

    This example shows the output from an SQL statement that creates
    a domain and specifies the ANSI89 reserved word CONTINUE as the
    user-supplied name for that domain. The SET ANSI IDENTIFIERS ON
    statement requires that you use uppercase characters for the name
    and enclose it in double quotation marks.

    SQL> set ansi identifiers on;
    SQL> create domain continue char(5);
    %SQL-F-RES_WORD_AS_IDE, Keyword CONTINUE used as an identifier
    SQL> create domain "CONTINUE" char(5);
    SQL>
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