Ensuring that DB2 correctly interprets character input data in REXX programs

DB2® REXX Language Support might incorrectly interpret character literals as graphic or numeric literals unless you mark them correctly.

Procedure

To ensure that DB2 correctly interprets character input data in REXX programs:

Precede and follow character literals with a double quotation mark, followed by a single quotation mark, followed by another double quotation mark ("'").

Example: Specify the string the string 100 as "'"100"'".

Enclosing the string in apostrophes is not adequate, because REXX removes the apostrophes when it assigns a literal to a variable. For example, suppose that you want to pass the value in a host variable called stringvar to DB2. The value that you want to pass is the string '100'. First, you assign the string to the host variable by issuing the following REXX command:

stringvar = '100'

After the command executes, stringvar contains the characters 100 (without the apostrophes). DB2 REXX Language Support then passes the numeric value 100 to DB2, which is not what you intended.

However, suppose that you write the following command:

stringvar = "'"100"'"

In this case, REXX assigns the string '100' to stringvar, including the single quotation marks. DB2 REXX Language Support then passes the string '100' to DB2, which is the result that you want.