This chapter describes each 4GL statement, providing the purpose, syntax, and examples of the statement. You can substitute components of some 4GL statements at run time, either through expressions or through 4GL names. For rules governing runtime substitution, see Using 4GL.

The full range of statements available to you in a 4GL program includes interactive SQL statements as well as those that can be used with a distributed database.

In most cases, the query statements in 4GL correspond very closely to their interactive versions. Using SQL with 4GL describes the differences.

Reserved words for SQL and QUEL are listed in the chapter “Keywords” in the SQL Reference Guide. See the appropriate query language reference guide for further information on additional reserved words or SQL statements.

Text conventions used in presenting the syntax of statements in this chapter are described in Introduction.

4GL names are underlined in syntax statements.