Handle non-ASCII characters

The IBM® Informix® ESQL/C processors obtain the code set for use in Informix ESQL/C source files from the client locale.

Within the Informix ESQL/C source file, you can use non-ASCII characters for the following program objects:

Informix ESQL/C comments
Names of SQL identifiers such as databases, tables, columns, views, constraints, prepared statements, and cursors
For more information, see Name database objects.
Informix ESQL/C host variable and indicator variable names
For example, in the Informix ESQL/C program, this use of multibyte characters is valid:
```
char A¹A²[20], B¹B²[20];
```
```
EXEC SQL select col1, col2 into :A¹A² :B¹B²;
```
For more information about Informix ESQL/C host variables, see Non-ASCII characters in host variables.
Literal strings
For example, in the Informix ESQL/C program, the following use of multibyte characters is valid:
```
EXEC SQL insert into tbl1 (nchr1) values 'A¹A²B¹B²';
```
File names and path names, if your operating system supports multibyte characters in file names and path names.

Tip: Some C-language compilers support multibyte characters in literals or comments only. For such compilers, you might need to set the ESQLMF and CC8BITLEVEL environment variables so that the Informix ESQL/C processor calls a multibyte filter. For more information, see Generate non-ASCII file names.

To use non-ASCII characters in your Informix ESQL/C source file, the client locale must support them. For information about the use of non-ASCII characters, see Non-ASCII characters in identifiers.