Filename Specification

Filename must be enclosed in single quotation marks; the file specification can include a directory/path name. For copy into, if the file does not exist, copy creates the file.

UNIX: For copy into, if the file already exists, copy overwrites it.

VMS: For copy into, if the file already exists, copy creates another version of the file.

VMS File Types

File type can be specified using the optional type parameter. Type must be one of the values listed in the following table.

Type	Record Format	Record Attributes
Text	Variable length	Records delimited by carriage return
binary	Fixed length	None
variable	Variable length	None

If type is omitted, copy determines the file type as follows:

If all fields in the file are character types (char, varchar), and all records end in <newline>, copy creates a text file.
If the file contains variable length records, its file type is variable. Variable length records occur if one or more fields are stored as varchar(0).
If none of the preceding conditions apply, copy creates a binary file.

If type is specified, the contents of the file must be in accordance with these rules. If it is not, copy creates the data file according to the preceding rules.