Difference between revisions of "Portable SQL/Common/DBMS Differences"

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Revision as of 16:25, 17 May 2007

Identifiers

Parts of this table are originally from "Building Truly Portable Database Applications in PHP": Column Name Case

Database Length Allowed Case Notes
Firebird 31 L,D (?) upper case preserved with double quotes (")
MySQL 64 L,NL,D,_,$ preserved
Oracle 30 L,NL,D,_,$,# upper Info, max. DB name length is 8
PostgreSQL 63 L,NL,D,_,$ lower case preserved with double quotes (")
SQL Server 127 L,NL,D,_,$,@,# preserved Info
SQLite 255 L,NL,D,_ preserved
Sybase ASE 131 L,NL,D,_,$,@,# preserved max. DB and Cursor name length is 28

Explanation of allowed symbols:

  • L = Letters
  • NL = Non-latin letters
  • D = Digits

In general, all identifiers must start with a letter or non-latin letter; digits and other symbols as first characters are often not allowed or change their meaning.

Since OpenDBX 1.1.4 the use of double quotes (") for identifiers (table and column names) is suggested. This complies to ANSI standards and is the only way to use reserved words and prevent clashes in the future if language constructs are extended by the database vendors.

NULL in column definition

This table is originally from "Building Truly Portable Database Applications in PHP": NULL

Database Default Definition allowed Notes
Firebird NULL no
MySQL NULL yes
Oracle NULL yes Empty strings considered NULL
PostgreSQL NULL yes
SQL Server NOT NULL yes
SQLite NULL yes
Sybase ASE NOT NULL yes

The "Definition allowed" column indicates if specifying NULL in table column definitions is allowed for CREATE TABLE statements - NOT NULL is always allowed. If "yes", the following statement doesn't generate an error:

CREATE TABLE mytable ( id INTEGER NULL )

Quotes and numeric values

MS SQL Server and Sybase ASE doesn't allow single quotes (') around numeric values (integer, decimal and floating point values), for example

INSERT INTO table (floatval,string) VALUES ('-3.14','some text')

generates an error when using these servers. They only accept

INSERT INTO table (floatval,string) VALUES (-3.14,'some text')

Special care must be taken in this case to avoid SQL injection attacks. Please read the section about quoting values carefully!



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