Output from SELECT Statements

Although the syntax remains the same across all IBM Informix products, the formatting and display of the resulting output depends on the application. The examples in this chapter and in Composing Advanced SELECT Statements display the SELECT statements and their output as they appear when you use the interactive Query-language option in DB–Access.

Output from Large Object Data Types

When you issue a SELECT statement that includes a large object, DB–Access displays the results as follows:

• For a TEXT column or CLOB column, the contents of the column are displayed.
• For a BYTE column, the words <BYTE value> are displayed instead of the actual value.
• For a BLOB column, the words <SBlob data> are displayed instead of the actual value.

Output from User-Defined Data Types

DB–Access uses special conventions to display output from columns that contain complex or opaque data types. For more information about these data types, refer to the IBM Informix: Database Design and Implementation Guide.

Output in Non-Default Code Sets

You can issue a SELECT statement that queries NCHAR columns instead of CHAR columns or NVARCHAR columns instead of VARCHAR columns.

For more Global Language Support (GLS) information, see the IBM Informix: GLS User's Guide. For additional information on using NCHAR and NVARCHAR data types with non-default code sets, see the IBM Informix: Database Design and Implementation Guide and the IBM Informix: Guide to SQL Reference.