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. 2) DECODE(value, if1, then1, if2, then2, ..... else) allows an if then else contruct within the select statement. 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 pdiazdeleon@infinityhealthcare.com