NullValue option

Specifies a maximum 4-byte UTF-8 string to use for the null value. The default is ‘NULL’.

You can specify a value such as a space (' ') or any string up to four characters. Conceptually, a field contains either a value or an indication that there is no value. The system provides some flexibility for how you indicate that a field contains no value.

The system determines the type of a field and whether it is null by inspecting the corresponding column declaration:
  • If there is no value, the system sets the corresponding value in the candidate binary record to null.
  • If you declared the target column as not null, an absence of a value is an error.
  • If a field does not indicate null, the system assumes that it contains a value. The system analyzes the contents of that field, converts its textual input representation to binary, and sets the corresponding value in the candidate binary record to that value.