Re: Does Informix have these ORACLE like functions?

>I am wondering if Informix has functions in it's SQL that behave >in a similar way as the following functions behave in ORACLE's >SQL PLUS. > > 1) NVL(value, substitute) > > example: select first_name, NVL(last_name, :SMITH) from names; > > what this select would do is select the first and last names > from the names table, and if it finds any of the rows in the > result set with a null last name it replases it with SMITH. 7.3 will support an embedded case phrase that would allow this functionality. > > > 2) DECODE(value, if1, then1, if2, then2, ..... else) > > allows an if then else contruct within the select > statement. 7.3 will support this, as well as the more "readable" case syntax. > > 3) Example; select TODAY from systables; > > Is there anyway of re-formating the result > within the select statement. > >I am not an ORACLE kind of guy, but we have one in house and >he is trying to learn some Informix and is looking for the >Informix equivalents. > >I am running Informix 6.X SQL, 6.X 4GL, and 7.X Standard Enginge. > > > >Thanks > >Peter Madison Pruet