SAS/ACCESS 9.2 for Relational Databases: Reference, Fourth Edition

522 Character Data 4 Chapter 16Character DataBLOB (binary large object)contains varying-length binary string data with a length of up to 2 gigabytes. Itcan hold structured data that user-defined types and functions can exploit. LikeFOR BIT DATA character strings, BLOB strings are not associated with a codepage.CLOB (character large object)contains varying-length character string data with a length of up to 2 gigabytes. Itcan store large single-byte character set (SBCS) or mixed (SBCS and multibytecharacter set, or MBCS) character-based data, such as documents written with asingle character set. It therefore has an SBCS or mixed code page associated withit.String DataCHAR(n)specifies a fixed-length column of length n for character string data. Themaximum for n is 255.VARCHAR(n)specifies a varying-length column for character string data. n specifies themaximum length of the string. If n is greater than 255, the column is a long stringcolumn. DB2 imposes some restrictions on referencing long string columns.LONG VARCHARspecifies a varying-length column for character string data. DB2 determines themaximum length of this column. A column defined as LONG VARCHAR is alwaysa long string column and, therefore, subject to referencing restrictions.GRAPHIC(n), VARGRAPHIC(n), LONG VARGRAPHICspecifies graphic strings and is comparable to the types for character strings.However, n specifies the number of double-byte characters, so the maximum valuefor n is 127. If n is greater than 127, the column is a long string column and issubject to referencing restrictions.Numeric DataBIGINTspecifies a big integer. Values in a column of this type can range from–9223372036854775808 to +9223372036854775807. However, numbers thatrequire decimal precision greater than 15 digits might be subject to rounding andconversion errors.SMALLINTspecifies a small integer. Values in a column of this type can range from –32,768 to+32,767.