Informix

All:

We have a[n ancient] app that has a bunch of special characters in object names, which requires DELIMIDENT to be set. The problem is, if it's set at all, even to empty string, it's considered "set" and double-quotes are taken to signify identifiers rather than constant strings. The problem is that DELIMIDENT is set in the engine environment, and there are a few client programs that access that are using the double quotes to signify constants.

Does anyone know if there's a way to override the setting of DELIMIDENT at the session level? It's easy enough to turn it on for a session if it's off at the engine; but I haven't been able to figure a way to turn it off for a session if it's on at the engine.

All:

We have a[n ancient] app that has a bunch of special characters in object names, which requires DELIMIDENT to be set. The problem is, if it's set at all, even to empty string, it's considered "set" and double-quotes are taken to signify identifiers rather than constant strings. The problem is that DELIMIDENT is set in the engine environment, and there are a few client programs that access that are using the double quotes to signify constants.

Does anyone know if there's a way to override the setting of DELIMIDENT at the session level? It's easy enough to turn it on for a session if it's off at the engine; but I haven't been able to figure a way to turn it off for a session if it's on at the engine.

Art:

You misunderstand my question. Look at the last sentence of my OQ more carefully. I'm aware that I can set it at the session level when it is not set at the engine level. What I want to be able to do is the reverse: the engine was started with DELIMIDENT set, but I want a session to be able to run against that engine as if it's not set. In other words, I want to be able to turn it OFF at the session level.

$ onstat -g env | grep DELIM
DBDELIMITER         |
DELIMIDENT          1
$ onstat -g env | grep DELIMID
DELIMIDENT          1
$ env | grep DELIMID
DELIMIDENT=1
$ dbaccess sysmaster << EOF
> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM systables WHERE tabid >= 100 AND tabtype = "T";
> EOF
Database selected.
  217: Column (T) not found in any table in the query (or SLV is undefined).
Error in line 1
Near character position 67
Database closed.
$ unset DELIMIDENT
$ env | grep DELIMIDENT
$ dbaccess sysmaster << EOF
> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM systables WHERE tabid >= 100 AND tabtype = "T";
> EOF
Database selected.
  217: Column (T) not found in any table in the query (or SLV is undefined).
Error in line 1
Near character position 67
Database closed.
$ export DELIMIDENT=
$ dbaccess sysmaster << EOF
> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM systables WHERE tabid >= 100 AND tabtype = "T";
> EOF
Database selected.
  217: Column (T) not found in any table in the query (or SLV is undefined).
Error in line 1
Near character position 67
Database closed.