Reference Manual
   CHAPTER 9. SQL Statements     

READ statement [ISQL]

Function 

To read Interactive SQL statements from a file.

Syntax 

READ filename [ parameters ]

Permissions 

None.

Side effects 

None.

See also 

PARAMETERS statement

Description 

The READ statement reads a sequence of Interactive SQL statements from the named file. This file can contain any valid Interactive SQL statement including other READ statements. READ statements can be nested to any depth. To find the command file, Interactive SQL will first search the current directory, then the directories specified in the environment variable SQLPATH, then the directories specified in the environment variable PATH. If the named file has no file extension, Interactive SQL searches each directory for the same file name with the extension sql.

Parameters can be listed after the name of the command file. These parameters correspond to the parameters named on the PARAMETERS statement at the beginning of the statement file (see PARAMETERS statement). Interactive SQL will then substitute the corresponding parameter wherever the source file contains

{ parameter-name }

where parameter-name is the name of the appropriate parameter.

The parameters passed to a command file can be identifiers, numbers, quoted identifiers, or strings. When quotes are used around a parameter, the quotes are put into the text during the substitution. Parameters which are not identifiers, numbers, or strings (contain spaces or tabs) must be enclosed in square brackets ([ ]). This allows for arbitrary textual substitution in the command file.

If not enough parameters are passed to the command file, Interactive SQL prompts for values for the missing parameters.

Standards and compatibility 

• SQL/92     Vendor extension.

• Sybase     Not applicable.

Examples 

• The following are examples of the READ statement.

  READ status.rpt '160'
  READ birthday.sql [>= '1988-1-1'] [<= '1988-1-30']