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Status Under review
Workspace Db2 for z/OS
Created by Guest
Created on Nov 22, 2024

RELATED IDEAS

New Function UNHEX

See this idea on ideas.ibm.com

New Function UNHEX (name subject to change/negotiation)

We have a system where all CHAR columns are defined FOR BIT DATA.  It seemed genius at the time to save a few bytes of data, not realizing the negative impact in future maintainability and in particular off-platform development.

I am positive many shops that have columns defined as CHAR FOR BIT DATA would greatly appreciate this function if they don't already have their own.

CREATE FUNCTION UNHEX(IN VARCHAR(32000) FOR BIT DATA)
RETURNS VARCHAR(32000) 
LANGUAGE SQL
CONTAINS SQL
DETERMINISTIC NO EXTERNAL ACTION
BEGIN
 RETURN IN;
END#

 

Sample query with the function

SELECT 
SUBSTR(UNHEX(CONTRACT_ID), 5, 3)
      ,UNHEX(CONTRACT_ID)
      ,CONTRACT_ID
 FROM TABLE
LIMIT 3;

 

Usable and readable output.

 1   2            CONTRACT_ID
--- ------------ --------------------------
C00 AABBC0012345 0xc1c1c2c2c3f0f0f1f2f3f4f5
C00 AABBC0012345 0xc1c1c2c2c3f0f0f1f2f3f4f5
C00 AABBC0012345 0xc1c1c2c2c3f0f0f1f2f3f4f5

 

Needed By Not sure -- Just thought it was cool
  • Admin
    Janet Figone
    Reply
    |     Mar 6, 2025

    Hello Chris, Additionally, if you need some function to change the subtype, you can use CAST AS FOR SBCS/MIXED DATA to change the subtype and use CCSID option if the encoding of the data in FOR BIT DATA column is different than the encoding of the table. This may be a better option since INTERPRET may be overkill in this case. Please let us know your thoughts.

    Sincerely,

    Db2 for z/OS team

  • Admin
    Janet Figone
    Reply
    |     Mar 5, 2025

    Hello Chris, Thank you for submitting this enhancment request. The Db2 for z/OS team reviewed it and would like to know if INTERPRET will work for you?

    1 reply

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