OpenSQL Reference Guide > OpenSQL Reference Guide > Overview of OpenSQL > OpenSQL Features > Restrictions on Identifiers
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Restrictions on Identifiers
For ANSI/ISO Entry SQL-92 standards compliance, identifiers should be no longer than 18 characters. The following table lists restrictions for each type of identifier:
Restriction
Regular Identifiers
Delimited Identifiers
Quotes
Specified without quotes
Specified in double quotes
Keywords
Cannot be a keyword
Can be a keyword
Case
Depends on host DBMS
Is significant
Valid Special Characters
“At” sign (@)
(Ingres only)
Crosshatch (#) (Ingres only)
Dollar sign ($)
(Ingres only)
Underscore (_)
Ampersand (&)
Asterisk (*)
“At” sign (@)
Colon (;)
Comma (,)
Crosshatch (#)
Dollar sign ($)
Double quotes (")
Equal sign (=)
Forward slash (/)
Left and right caret (< >)
Left and right parentheses
Minus sign (‑)
 
 
Percent sign (%)
Period (.)
Plus sign (+)
Question mark (?)
Semicolon (;)
Single quote (')
Space
Underscore (_)
Vertical bar (|)
The following characters cannot be embedded in object names using either regular or delimited identifiers:
• Backslash (\)
• Caret (^)
• Braces ({ })
• DEL (ASCII 127 or X'7F')
• Exclamation point (!)
• Left quote (ASCII 96 or X'60')
• Tilde (~)
To specify double quotes in a delimited identifier, the quotes must be repeated. For example:
"""Identifier""Name"""
is interpreted by OpenSQL as:
"Identifier"Name"
Case Sensitivity of Identifiers
Case sensitivity for regular and delimited identifiers depends on the underlying DBMS. For compliance with ANSI/ISO Entry SQL-92 standards, delimited identifiers must be case sensitive.
OpenSQL treats database and user names without regard to case.
Last modified date: 08/14/2024