SQL/MX 3.2.1 Management Manual (H06.26+, J06.15+)

Format File Considerations for import
For more information, see the SQL/MX Reference Manual.
Format File for a DELIM Input File
If the input file type is DELIM and you want to use a format file, you must include the [COLUMN
FORMAT] section. The other sections are optional.
Format File for a FIXED Input File
If the input file type is FIXED, you must specify a format file that includes the [COLUMN FORMAT]
and [FIXED WIDTH FORMAT] sections. The columns listed in the [COLUMN FORMAT] section must
match the columns listed in the [FIXED WIDTH FORMAT] section. The other sections are optional.
Input File Considerations for import
Fixed Input File
In a fixed input file, specified by using the -W FIXED option, different columns can have different
lengths. But for each column, all rows must be the same length. You should pad column values that
are shorter than the column width with spaces or NullValue characters to ensure that every row
has exactly the same number of bytes for a given column.
Delimited Input File
A delimited input file, specified by using the -W DELIM option or by default, uses field and row
delimiters and field qualifiers if needed. If you specify a format file, import uses the delimiters
in the file unless you also specify delimiters on the import command line, in which case the
command line specifications are used.
If you do not specify a format file, import uses the default delimiters described in the SQL/MX
Reference Manual.
For more information about other input file considerations, including using a field qualifier, field
delimiter, row delimiter, or record delimiter, see the SQL/MX Reference Manual.
Output File Considerations for import
Rows in the parsing error log file must look exactly like the corresponding row in the input file.
However, rows in the execution error log file may not look like the corresponding row in the input
file. Four notable cases are:
1. The format of numbers may be changed. Example: 123456.7 in the original input file may
appear as 1.234567E+05 in the error log file.
2. The value of some floating-point numbers may not be exactly the same (though very close).
This is due to an internal conversion to binary format and then back to floating point ASCII
format for logging to the error log file.
196 Reorganizing SQL/MX Tables and Maintaining Data