Declare variables for simple large objects

A variable for a simple large object (a TEXT or BYTE object) does not contain the object itself but rather a pointer to the object. When you define a variable on the TEXT or BYTE data type, you must use the keyword REFERENCES before the data type, as the following figure shows.
Figure 1. Use the REFERENCES keyword before the data type.
DEFINE t REFERENCES TEXT;
DEFINE b REFERENCES BYTE;