Expressions in SAP ASE

An expression is a combination of one or more constants, literals, functions, column identifiers, and variables, separated by operators, that returns a single value.

Expressions can be of several types, including arithmetic, relational, logical (or Boolean), and character string. In some Transact-SQL clauses, a subquery can be used in an expression. A case expression can be used in an expression.

Use parentheses to group the elements in an expression. When you provide “expression” as a variable in a syntax statement, a simple expression is assumed. Use logical_expression when only a logical expression is acceptable.

• Arithmetic Operators
  SAP ASE uses certain arithmetic operators.
• Bitwise Operators
  The bitwise operators are a Transact-SQL extension for use with the integer datatype.
• The String Concatenation Operator
  The string operator + can concatenate two or more character or binary expressions.
• The Comparison Operators
  SAP ASE uses certain comparison operators.
• Nonstandard Operators
  SAP ASE supports certain nonstandard operators that are Transact-SQL extensions.
• Character Expression Comparisons
  SAP ASE treats character constant expressions as varchar. If they are compared with non-varchar variables or column data, the datatype precedence rules are used in the comparison (that is, the datatype with lower precedence is converted to the datatype with higher precedence).
• Empty Strings
  An empty string (“”) or (‘’) is interpreted as a single blank in insert or assignment statements on varchar data.
• Quotation Marks
  You can specify literal quotes by using an additional quote with a quote of the same type, or by enclosing a quote in the opposite kind of quotation mark.
• Relational and Logical Expressions
  A logical expression or relational expression returns TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN.