The lvarchar keyword syntax

To declare an lvarchar host variable for a character column (CHAR, VARCHAR, or LVARCHAR), use the lvarchar keyword as the variable data type.

The following syntax shows the lvarchar keyword as the variable data type. 

1 (1)  lvarchar
1+ ,
1  variable name [ variable size ]
1  * variable
name
2  ;
Notes:
  • 1 HCL OneDB™ extension
Element Purpose Restrictions
variable name Name of an lvarchar variable of a specified size None
variable size Number of bytes to allocate for an lvarchar variable of specified size Integer value can be 1 - 32,768 (32 KB).
*variable name Name of an lvarchar pointer variable for data of unspecified length Not equivalent to a C char pointer (char *). Points to an internal ESQL/C representation for this type. You must use the ifx_var() functions to manipulate data.
The following figure shows declarations for three lvarchar variables that hold values for LVARCHAR columns.
Figure 1: Sample lvarchar host variables
EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
   lvarchar *a_polygon;
   lvarchar circle1[CIRCLESZ],          circle2[CIRCLESZ];
EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
Important: To declare a lvarchar host variable for the external format of an opaque data type, use the syntax described in Declare lvarchar host variables.