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SQL programming
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of the SQL language to develop applications for Informix database servers.
Guide to SQL: Syntax
Data types and expressions
These topics describe the data types and expressions that Informix®supports.
Data Type
The Data Type segment specifies the data type of a column, of a component of a collection, of a field within a ROW type, of a routine parameter, or of a value returned by an expression or by a cast function. Use this segment whenever you see a reference to a data type in a syntax diagram.
Built-In Data Types
Time Data Types
The time data types store calendar dates, points in time, and intervals of time.

SQL programming
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of the SQL language to develop applications for Informix database servers.
- Guide to SQL: Syntax
  - Overview of SQL syntax
    These topics provide an overview about how to use the SQL statements, SPL statements, and syntax segments.
  - SQL statements
    This chapter describes the syntax and semantics of SQL statements that are recognized by Informix®.
  - SPL statements
    These topics describe Stored Procedure Language (SPL) statements, which you use to write SPL routines. You can store these routines in the database as user-defined routines (UDRs).
  - Data types and expressions
    These topics describe the data types and expressions that Informix®supports.
    - Scope of Segment Descriptions
    - Use of Segment Descriptions
    - Data type and expression segments
      Data type and expression segments can appear in SQL statements.
    - Collection Subquery
    - Condition
    - Data Type
      The Data Type segment specifies the data type of a column, of a component of a collection, of a field within a ROW type, of a routine parameter, or of a value returned by an expression or by a cast function. Use this segment whenever you see a reference to a data type in a syntax diagram.
      - Built-In Data Types
        BOOLEAN and other built-in opaque data types
        Informix® also supports the BOOLEAN data type, which is a built-in opaque data type that can store true, false, or NULL values. The symbol t represents a literal BOOLEAN true value, and f represents a literal BOOLEAN false value.
        BSON and JSON built-in opaque data types
        The BSON and JSON data types are built-in opaque types of Informix® that can be accessed and manipulated in local and distributed queries and in other DML operations. These are SQL data types that directly support relational database operations on data in BSON or JSON document store format. However, if you plan to query JSON and BSON data through the wire listener, you must create your database objects, such as collections and indexes, through the wire listener. You can use SQL statements to query JSON and BSON data whether you created your database objects through the wire listener or with SQL statements.
        Character Data Types
        IDSSECURITYLABEL Data Type
        In a table that is protected by a label-based security policy, the IDSSECURITYLABEL data type of Informix® stores a security label.
        Numeric Data Types
        Exact Numeric Data Types
        Approximate Numeric Data Types
        Large-Object Data Types
        Time Data Types
        The time data types store calendar dates, points in time, and intervals of time.
      - User-Defined Data Type
      - Complex Data Type
    - DATETIME Field Qualifier
      Use a DATETIME Field Qualifier to specify the largest and smallest unit of time in a DATETIME column or value. Use this segment whenever you see a reference to a DATETIME Field Qualifier in a syntax diagram.
    - Expression
    - OLAP window expressions
      You can include On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) expressions in a SELECT statement to operate on subsets of the rows in the result set of a query or subquery. You can use OLAP window expressions to examine subsets of the qualifying rows for patterns, trends, or exceptions in the data.
    - INTERVAL Field Qualifier
    - Literal Collection
    - Literal DATETIME
      The Literal DATETIME segment specifies a DATETIME value
    - Literal INTERVAL
      The Literal INTERVAL segment specifies a literal INTERVAL value. Use this whenever you see a reference to a literal INTERVAL in a syntax diagram.
    - Literal Number
    - Literal Row
      The Literal Row segment specifies the syntax for literal values of named and unnamed ROW data types.
    - Quoted String
    - Relational Operator
  - Other syntax segments
    These topics describe syntax segments, which are language elements, such as database object names or optimizer directives, that appear as a subdiagram reference in the syntax diagrams of some SQL or SPL statements.
  - Built-In Routines
  - Appendixes
- 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.
- 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.

Time Data Types

The time data types store calendar dates, points in time, and intervals of time.

Time Data Types

Notes:

¹ See INTERVAL Field Qualifier
² Informix® extension
³ See DATETIME Field Qualifier

The following table summarizes the built-in time data types.

Data Type: Description
DATE: Stores a date value as a Julian date in the range from January 1 of the year 1 up to December 31, 9999.
DATETIME: Stores a point-in-time date (year, month, day) and time-of-day (hour, minute, second, and fraction of second), in the range of years 1 to 9999. Also supports contiguous subsets of these time units.
INTERVAL: Stores spans of time, in years and/or months, or in smaller time units (days, hours, minutes, seconds, and/or fractions of second), with up to 9 digits of precision in the largest time unit, if this is not FRACTION. Also supports contiguous subsets of these time units.

For the order of precedence among the Informix® environment variables that can specify the display and data entry format of the built-in time data types, see the topic Precedence of DATE and DATETIME format specifications.