The SQL Terminating Delimiter

The end of a SQL statement is determined explicitly by a terminating delimiter. For C, this is a semicolon (;).

 

Host Language	Terminating Delimiter
C	semicolon (;)

Comments within an SQL Statement

Two types of comments are supported, host language comments and SQL comments:

• Host language comments obey the rules determined by the host language.
  
  Host language comments may be positioned anywhere within an SQL statement where a whitespace character can appear. For examples of host language comments, refer to the host language dependent sections later in this documentation.

Note: Host language comments are not permitted between the following keywords:

EXEC SQL

BEGIN DECLARE SECTION

END DECLARE SECTION

• SQL comments are character string preceded by two minus characters (- -).
  
  SQL comments may be positioned anywhere within the SQL statement body where a whitespace character can appear. All characters following this starting delimiter until the end of the line are interpreted as part of the comment.

If a host languages does not permit nested comments, modify the host language comment delimiters within a statement so the actual SQL statement is commented out; this will prevent nested comments.