The Command Reference Guide describes all Ingres® commands. The guide is for the person who needs a quick reference to Ingres commands and system utilities.
Many commands operate on the database as a whole. Some invoke Ingres querying and reporting tools, preprocessors, and utilities. Some utilities are special purpose programs or require special privileges to invoke.
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This guide is intended for programmers and users of Ingres who have a basic understanding of how relational database systems work. In addition, the reader should have a basic understanding of the operating system.
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Ingres installations can be administered in compliance with the C2 security standards.
If you are using an Enterprise Access product, see your Enterprise Access documentation for information about syntax that may differ from that described in this guide.
Ingres is compliant with ISO Entry SQL-92. In addition, numerous vendor extensions are included. For details about the settings required to operate in compliance with ISO Entry SQL-92, see the SQL Reference Guide.
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Generally, Ingres operates the same way on all systems. When necessary, however, this guide provides information specific to your operating system. For example:
UNIX: Information is specific to the UNIX environment.
VMS: Information is specific to the VMS environment.
Windows: Information is specific to the Windows environment.
When necessary for clarity, the symbol 
is used to indicate the end of system-specific text.
For sections that pertain to one system only, the system is indicated in the section title.
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The directory structure of an Ingres installation is the same regardless of operating system. Rather than showing path examples for all environments, this guide uses UNIX notation only.
For example: When describing the location of the collation sequence file, the guide shows: $II_SYSTEM/ingres/files/collation/collation_name.
On Windows, the location is: %II_SYSTEM%\ingres\files\collation\collation_name
On VMS, the location is: II_SYSTEM:[INGRES.FILES.COLLATION]collation_name
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In this guide, command formats for the following UNIX shells are shown:
For the Korn shell, use the Bourne shell syntax. Refer to your operating system shell documentation for any variations required on your particular system.
Command formats for the following UNIX operating system variants are shown where needed:
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The industry standard query language, SQL, is used as the standard query language throughout this guide. Ingres is compliant with ISO Entry SQL-92. For details about the settings required to operate in compliance with ISO Entry SQL-92, see the SQL Reference Guide.
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This guide uses the following conventions to describe command and statement syntax:
Convention |
Usage |
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Monospace |
Indicates keywords, symbols, or punctuation that you must enter as shown. |
Italics |
Represent a variable name for which you must supply a value. |
[ ] (brackets) |
Indicate an optional item. |
{ } (braces) |
Indicate an optional item that you can repeat as many times as appropriate. |
| (vertical bar) |
Separates items in a list and indicates that you must choose one item. |
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You execute Ingres commands at the command line.
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A command consists of one or more required command words, usually followed by one or more flags or parameters:
command [flags] [parameters]
A flag is a command option that consists of a letter preceded by a hyphen (-). A flag may stand alone (-f), or be followed by a parameter (-fparameter). Generally, there is no space between a flag and parameter.
Flags are shown in lowercase unless they are required to be uppercase. Uppercase flags may need special input syntax if the host operating system is case-insensitive.
A parameter is a command line option that is not a flag. A parameter can be the name of a database, a table or other object, or a value that specifies a particular use for a command.
In general, you can enter command options in any order. A few commands, however, require options in a specific order.