A domain is the set of values that a table column can have. A domain definition restricts the set of values that a table column can have by associating a data type with a domain name, and allows optional formatting and collating clauses. The CREATE and ALTER TABLE statements refer to domain names in column definitions. The domain name must be unique among domain names in the schema. You can use a domain when defining columns in multiple tables. Once you have defined a domain, use the CREATE or ALTER TABLE statement to define a column based on the domain definition. You can qualify the domain name with the schema name (when the domain belongs to a multischema database) or with the alias. In general, you should use domains when you create tables. Using domains: o Ensures that similar columns in multiple tables comply to one standard. For example, if you define the columns using the domain ID_DOM, the data type for all these columns is CHAR(5). o Allows you to change the data type for all columns defined using a domain by changing the domain itself. For example, if you want to change the data type for POSTAL_CODE_DOM from CHAR(5) to CHAR(10), you only need to alter the data type for POSTAL_CODE_DOM. You do not have to alter the data type for the column POSTAL_CODE in the tables COLLEGES and EMPLOYEES. You might not want to use domains when you create tables if: o You are creating intermediate result tables. It takes time to plan what the domains are in the database and to define them. Intermediate result tables might not warrant this effort. NOTE In syntax diagrams, the domain-name syntax element refers to either the qualified or unqualified form of the name given to the domain in the CREATE DOMAIN statement. (B)0[m[1mdomain-name = [m [1m [m [1mqwqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqwq> <name-of-domain> qqq> [m [1m mqwq> <schema-name> qwq> . qj [m [1m [m [1m mq> <alias> qqqqqqqj [m [1m [m [1m [m [1m [m [1m [m