Identifiers

Identifiers are symbolic names for objects—databases, tables, replication definitions, publications, subscriptions, functions, parameters, function string variables, and so on.

Identifiers are 1–255 bytes long for these objects:

  • Tables

  • Columns

  • Procedures

  • Parameters

  • Functions – as part of function replication definition or internal functions

    Note: The create function, alter function, and drop function commands do not support long identifiers. The name of the function and the parameters of these commands cannot exceed 30 bytes.

  • Function strings

  • Replication definitions – including table replication definitions, function replication definitions, and database replication definitions

  • Articles

  • Publications

  • Subscriptions

All other identifiers are 1–30 bytes long.

If an identifier is not enclosed in quotes, its first character must be an ASCII letter. Subsequent characters can be ASCII letters, digits, or the $ or _ character. Embedded spaces are not allowed.

Identifiers that begin with the characters “rs_” are reserved for Replication Server. See “Reserved Words” for a list of other reserved words.

Parameter names for Replication Server functions and Adaptive Server stored procedures are the only identifiers that can begin with the @ character.

  • Replication Server function parameter names can be up to 256 bytes including the @ character.

  • Adaptive Server stored procedure parameter names can be up to 255 bytes including the @ character.

You can use reserved words for identifiers by enclosing the identifiers in double quotes. When you use quotes, you can also use embedded spaces and otherwise prohibited characters, such as !@#$%^&*(), and 8-bit and multibyte characters. Replication Server strips any trailing blanks from the end of the identifier, even if you have placed it within quotes. For example:
check subscription "publishers_sub"
     for "publishers_rep"
with replicate at "SYDNEY_DS"."pubs2"
Warning!  Adaptive Server allows you to place identifiers within quotes when you set quoted_identifier to on. This lets you use reserved words for Adaptive Server object names. However, Replication Server does not recognize identifiers in quotes in the commands that it sends to Adaptive Server, so you cannot use Transact-SQL keywords as names for replicated Adaptive Server objects. If necessary, you can alter function strings to place quotes around identifiers for replicated objects.
Enclose variable names in function-string templates in question marks. For example, this variable name could be used in a function string to refer to a primary database:
?rs_origin_db!sys?
or, using quoted identifiers:
?”rs_origin_db”!sys?
Parent topic: Topics