Conventions for naming database objects apply throughout Adaptive Server software and documentation. Identifiers can be as many as 30 bytes in length, whether or not multibyte characters are used. The first character of an identifier must be declared as an alphabetic character in the character set definition in use on Adaptive Server.
The @ sign or _ (underscore character) can also be used. The @ sign as the first character of an identifier indicates a local variable.
Temporary table names must either begin with # (the pound sign) if they are created outside tempdb or be preceded by “tempdb.”. Table names for temporary tables that exist outside tempdb should not exceed 13 bytes in length, including the number sign, since Adaptive Server gives them an internal numeric suffix.
After the first character, identifiers can include characters declared as alphabetic, numeric, or the character $, #, @, _, ¥ (yen), or £ (pound sterling). However, you cannot use two @@ symbols together at the beginning of a named object, as in “@@myobject.” This naming convention is reserved for global variables, which are system-defined variables that Adaptive Server updates on an ongoing basis.
The case sensitivity of Adaptive Server is set when the server is installed and can be changed only by a System Administrator. To see the setting for your server, execute:
sp_helpsort
On a server that is not case-sensitive, the identifiers MYOBJECT, myobject, and MyObject (and all combinations of case) are considered identical. You can create only one of these objects, but you can use any combination of case to refer to that object.
No embedded spaces are allowed in identifiers, and none of the SQL reserved keywords can be used. The reserved words are listed in the Adaptive Server Reference Manual.
You can use the function valid_name to determine if an identifier you have created is acceptable to Adaptive Server. For example:
select valid_name (“string")
string is the identifier you want to check. If string is not valid as an identifier, Adaptive Server returns a 0 (zero). If string is a valid identifier, Adaptive Server returns a number other than 0. Adaptive Server returns a 0 if illegal characters are used or if string is longer than 30 bytes.
