The lvarchar keyword syntax

To declare an lvarchar host variable for a character column (CHAR, VARCHAR, or LVARCHAR), use the lvarchar keyword as the variable data type.

The following syntax shows the lvarchar keyword as the variable data type.


                   .-,--------------------------------------.   
    (1)            V                                        |   
>>-------lvarchar----+-variable name--[--variable size--]-+-+--->
                     '-*--variable name-------------------'     

>--;-----------------------------------------------------------><

Notes:

Informix® extension

Element	Purpose	Restrictions
`variable name`	Name of an lvarchar variable of a specified size	None
`variable size`	Number of bytes to allocate for an lvarchar variable of specified size	Integer value can be 1 - 32,768 (32 KB).
`*variable name`	Name of an lvarchar pointer variable for data of unspecified length	Not equivalent to a C char pointer (char *). Points to an internal ESQL/C representation for this type. You must use the ifx_var() functions to manipulate data.

The following figure shows declarations for three lvarchar variables that hold values for LVARCHAR columns.

Figure 1. Sample lvarchar host variables

EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
   lvarchar *a_polygon;
   lvarchar circle1[CIRCLESZ],          circle2[CIRCLESZ];
EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;

Important: To declare a lvarchar host variable for the external format of an opaque data type, use the syntax described in Declare lvarchar host variables.