Searching for zero-length strings in E/SQL

I'm using Informix On-Line 5.0, on a Sun 4 with SunOS 4.1.3 I have an interesting problem with E/SQL. I have a simple program that uses a host variable value to search for a zero-length string in a database column, for example select t1_key from table1 where t1_desc = '' If I run this statement from isql, it finds all the rows where I've entered '' for the string column "t1_desc". If I create a statement in E/SQL like this: select t1_key FROM table1 WHERE t1_desc = '' it finds the rows correctly. But if I create the statement like this: select t1_key FROM table1 WHERE t1_desc = ? and use a host variable that is set to a zero-length string, it searches for NULL instead. I've talked to Informix support, and they say that if the host variable is set to '', then it will search for NULL, instead of a zero length string, but if I set the host variable to a single space, then it will find the rows with a zero-length string, and that this is working correctly. Does this sound right? Any information would be great. -- Mark E. Hansen internet: meh@Unify.Com Unify Corporation ...!{csusac,pyramid}!unify!meh 3901 Lennane Drive voice: (916) 928-6234 Sacramento, CA 95834-1922 fax: (916) 928-6401 ** If there is no solution, there is no problem **