Re: Umm, almost embarrassed to ask this, but....

In article <34DB8723.410D@netcomuk.co.uk>, Neil Truby <ntruby@netcomuk.co.uk> wrote: >What's the best way to retrieve the value of a system variable, say >TODAY? Obviously, I can do: > >SELECT TODAY from table1 >where key='aaa'> >but I have to know that this will return a single row. How about a >general select statement that doesn't require detailed knowledge of a >table's data? The standard way to do this seems to be:- select today from systables where tabid = 1 If I were given to making universal assertions I would probably claim that all Informix databases have a table called "systables" and it always has exactly one row whose tabid is 1; so instead I will merely say that this has been the case with all Informix databases that it has been my pleasure to meet. Paul (not a spokesman) P.S. When I used Horracle we did "SELECT .... from DUAL" instead. P.P.S. Chase Manhatten bank is now in Bournemouth?