Column Definition

Use the column definition segment of the CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statement to declare the name and data type of a single column of the new external table.

Column Definition
Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagramSAMEAStemplate,columndata_typeOther Optional Clauses
Other Optional Clauses
Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagramEXTERNALCHAR(size)NULL'null_string'NOT NULL
Element Description Restrictions Syntax
column One column name for each column of the external table For each column, you must specify a built-in data type Identifier
data_type Data type of the column The data_type can be any data type supported by Informix®. Data Type
template Existing table with the same schema as the external table Cannot be a subset of columns nor differ in any column data type Database Object Name
size Column size in bytes. Default is 1. Integer; 1 ≤ size ≤ 32,767 Literal Number
null_string Value to represent NULL See Defining NULL Values. Quoted String