Data Definition Language (DDL) Reference Manual

DDL Language Elements
Data Definition Language (DDL) Reference Manual—529431-004
2-2
Syntax
Syntax
Every DDL name:
•
Begins with either a letter (A-Z or a-z) or an underscore (_)
•
Has a maximum of 30 ASCII characters, which are any of:
°
Letters
°
Decimal digits (0-9)
°
Hyphen (-)
°
Underscore
•
Does not end with a hyphen
Uppercase letters are not distinguished from lowercase letters, and any underscores
are part of the name.
You can make the name of a DDL elementary field unique by qualifying it with a record
name or with one or more group names; for example:
Restrictions
•
DDL constant names cannot be DDL keywords (which are listed in Keywords on
page 2-6).
•
Other DDL names cannot be:
°
DDL reserved words (which are listed in Keywords on page 2-6)
°
Reserved words in the host language for which the DDL compiler is generating
source code (which are listed in the host-language manuals in Prerequisite
Manuals on page xxiv)
If a DDL name is a host-language reserved word, the DDL compiler issues an
error message and does not generate host-language source code for the
object identified by the reserved word or containing an element identified by
the reserved word. In this way, the DDL compiler avoids generating code that
does not compile.
Qualified Field Name Example
record.field CUSTOMER.CUSTNUM
group.group.field CUSTINFO.ADDR.CITY
Example 2-1. DDL Names
A1
field-2
Employee-record-1
NEW-EMPLOYEE-NUMBER
_EMP
_EMP_
ZSPI-TKN-RETCODE