RE: Oracle/SQL Server and Informix Equivalent Command

UNLOAD TO '/home/datadump/tablename.dmp' SELECT cField1, '~', cField2, (...) FROM sourcetable ?!! -----Original Message----- From: Ray M [mailto:messier@nichewareinc.com] Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 09:11 To: informix-list@iiug.org Subject: Oracle/SQL Server and Informix Equivalent Command I am very familiar with both SQL Server and Oracle and have been using them for years. But, now I am on a job where I have to do some work with Informix (the accounting system is Prelude, which runs on UniData, which apparently runs Informix). I am having trouble getting the equivalent commands to work or to find them. What I need to do is export some tables and then pull them into SQL Server. Here is the problem. The prelude system does not store the tables as SQL compatible so they created this hokey ODBC dictionary and you have to convert tables 1 at a time to an ODBC view. The views do not resemble tables at all really, what happens is a table that gets converted to a view, you end up with like 20 seperate views that are like 1 view per column in the underlying table (I am using Visual Schema Generator). I can do a SELECT * FROM [table] TO '/home/datadump/tablename.dmp' but, I am confused. I thought I could do a LISTDICT [tablename] but the format is not very clear. I cannot get the format to just give me a dump with no linebreaks so I can pipe it to a text file (the reason being, I have to create an equivalement SQL Server table). I tried CLEAR COLUMN; but that did not correct it. So, my question is this. If I was in Oracle I would issue the following commands SPOOL ON SPOOL '/home/datadump/tablename.dmp' SET HEADING OFF LINESIZE 256 SELECT RTRIM(cField1) || '~' || RTRIM(cField2) (...) FROM sourcetable SPOOL OFF In SQL Server I would create a view then bulk copy the view out. In either case I could do a DESC tablename or an SP_HELP tablename and get the structure. Can someone please help me out and give me the equivalent commands? Thahnks.... sending to informix-list