Variables and column names

If you use the same identifier for an SPL variable that you use for a column name, the database server assumes that each instance of the identifier is a variable. Qualify the column name with the table name, using dot notation, in order to use the identifier as a column name.

In the SELECT statement in the following figure, customer.lname is a column name and lname is a variable name.
Figure 1. Column names and variable names in a SELECT statement.
CREATE PROCEDURE table_test()

   DEFINE lname CHAR(15);
   LET lname = 'Miller';

   SELECT customer.lname INTO lname FROM customer
      WHERE customer_num = 502;
. . .
END PROCEDURE;