Using dbload to populate VARCHAR fields

We are converting a Data Warehouse application from Oracle to Informix 7.22. With Oracle we used SQL-Loader to populate the tables. Informix's High-Performance Loader and dbload utilities seem to provide functionality. However, we have been unable to determine a simple way to trim trailing spaces from data being loaded into VARCHAR fields. (Many of our tables contain fields which can be populated with 0 to 50 bytes of data. To reduce I/O we prefer to store this data in VARCHAR fields. This data will not be modified after it is stored). Over 100 different files from third party vendors and legacy systems feed our data warehouse. Fields in these files are identified by the column position. With Oracle's SQL-Loader trailing whitespace was always trimmed from character input fields. Informix's dbload utility does not have a similar capability or option. For large data loads, we are considering: * Loading data into a separate database and then extracting the data in a column-delimited format for loading into the production table (with dbload). For smaller data loads, we are considering: * Loading data into a separate database and then use SQL to SELECT the data and INSERT it into the production tables. i.e. INSERT INTO proddb:table1 (fld1, ...) SELECT TRIM(fld1), ... from stagedb:table1 ... Can anyone recommend an easier way to accomplish load these columns without trailing whitespace? Rick Bernstein Phone: (619) 458-7048 Alaris Medical Systems FAX: (619) 458-7640 San Diego, CA 92121 Internet: rbernste@alarismed.com