The LOAD and UNLOAD statements

You can use the SQL LOAD and UNLOAD statements to move data. The LOAD statement is moderately fast and easy to use, but it only accepts specified data formats. You usually use the LOAD statement with data that is prepared with an UNLOAD statement.

You can use the UNLOAD statement in DB-Access to unload selected rows from a table into a text file.

The UNLOAD statement lets you manipulate the data as you unload it, but it requires that you unload to files on disk instead of to tape. If you unload to disk files, you might need to use UNIX™, Linux™, or Windows™ utilities to load those files onto tape.

To load tables, use LOAD or dbload. To manipulate a data file that you are loading or to access a database while it is loading, use the dbload utility. The cost of the flexibility is the time you spend creating the dbload command file and slower execution. When possible, use the LOAD statement, which is faster than dbload.

If the database contains label-based access control (LBAC) objects, you can load or unload only those rows in which your security label dominates the column-security label or the row-security label. If entire table is to be loaded or unloaded, you must have the necessary LBAC credentials for writing/reading all of the labeled rows and columns. For more information about LBAC objects, see the Informix® Security Guide and the Informix Guide to SQL: Syntax.