Home
SQL programming
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of the SQL language to develop applications for Informix database servers.
Guide to SQL: Reference
The Informix® Guide to SQL: Reference contains the reference information for the system catalog tables, data types, and environment variables of the HCL Informix dialect of the SQL language, as implemented in HCL Informix. These topics also include information about the stores_demo, sales_demo, and superstore_demo databases that are included with HCL Informix.
Environment variables
Various environment variables affect the functionality of your HCL Informix® products. You can set environment variables that identify your terminal, specify the location of your software and define other parameters.
Using environment variables on UNIX™
You can set, unset, modify, and view environment variables. If you already use any HCL Informix® products, some or all of the appropriate environment variables might be set.
Modifying an environment-variable setting

SQL programming
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of the SQL language to develop applications for Informix database servers.
- Guide to SQL: Syntax
- Guide to SQL: Reference
  The Informix® Guide to SQL: Reference contains the reference information for the system catalog tables, data types, and environment variables of the HCL Informix dialect of the SQL language, as implemented in HCL Informix. These topics also include information about the stores_demo, sales_demo, and superstore_demo databases that are included with HCL Informix.
  - System catalog tables
    The system catalog consists of tables and views that describe the structure of the database. Sometimes called the data dictionary, these table objects contain everything that the database knows about itself. Each system catalog table contains information about specific elements in the database. Each database has its own system catalog.
  - Data types
    Every column in a table in a database is assigned a data type. The data type precisely defines the kinds of values that you can store in that column.
  - Environment variables
    Various environment variables affect the functionality of your HCL Informix® products. You can set environment variables that identify your terminal, specify the location of your software and define other parameters.
    - Types of environment variables
    - Limitations on environment variables
    - Using environment variables on UNIX™
      You can set, unset, modify, and view environment variables. If you already use any HCL Informix® products, some or all of the appropriate environment variables might be set.
    - Using environment variables on Windows™
    - Environment variables in Informix® products
      The topics that follow discuss (in alphabetic order) environment variables that HCL Informix® database server products and their utilities use.
  - Appendixes
- Guide to SQL: Tutorial
  The Informix® Guide to SQL: Tutorial shows how to use basic and advanced structured query language (SQL) to access and manipulate the data in your databases. It discusses the data manipulation language (DML) statements as well as triggers and stored procedure language (SPL) routines, which DML statements often use.

Modifying an environment-variable setting

About this task

Sometimes you must add information to an environment variable that is already set. For example, the PATH environment variable is always set on UNIX™. When you use HCL Informix® productd, you must add to the PATH setting the name of the directory where the executable files for the HCL Informix® products are stored.

In the following example, the INFORMIXDIR is /usr/informix. (That is, during installation, the HCL Informix® products were installed in the /usr /informix directory.) The executable files are in the bin subdirectory, /usr/informix/bin. To add this directory to the front of the C shell PATH environment variable, use the following command:

setenv PATH /usr/informix/bin:$PATH

Rather than entering an explicit pathname, you can use the value of the INFORMIXDIR environment variable (represented as $INFORMIXDIR), as the following example shows:

setenv INFORMIXDIR /usr/informix
setenv PATH $INFORMIXDIR/bin:$PATH

You might prefer to use this version to ensure that your PATH entry does not conflict with the search path that was set in INFORMIXDIR, and so that you are not required to reset PATH whenever you change INFORMIXDIR. If you set the PATH environment variable on the C shell command line, you might be required to include braces ( {} ) with the existing INFORMIXDIR and PATH, as the following command shows:

setenv PATH ${INFORMIXDIR}/bin:${PATH}

For more information about how to set and modify environment variables, see the publications for your operating system.