Entering Literal Values

Two types of literal values may be included in an INFO/ACCESS query; item-IDs and constants. It is recommended that the user enclose each item-ID in single quotes because single quotes identify the word as an item-ID, no matter where in the INFO/ACCESS query it occurs.

This example lists items with customer ID number 1, 2, and 3:

>LIST CUSTOMERS '1' '2' '3' NAME

The next example produces an error message because the numbers enclosed in double quotes are not recognized as item-IDs:

>LIST CUSTOMERS NAME "1" "2" "3"

The way an item-ID is specified in a query may affect the amount of processing to be done. For example, the next query locates only the item whose item-ID is AORLA5593:

>LIST CUSTOMERS 'AORLA5593'

In contrast, the selection expression in the following query, searches through the entire CUSTOMERS file, matching each item-ID against the one specified:

>LIST CUSTOMERS = 'AORLA5593'

The second method to search for an item-ID may be more useful when looking for item-IDs that contain a particular substring:

>LIST CUSTOMERS = 'AORLA]'

String searching is explained in Producing Reports with LIST and SORT.

Constants are used in selection expressions, print limiters, and as arguments to certain modifiers. They identify specific dates, times, dollar amounts, customers’ last names, etc. Enclose each constant in a set of double quotes or backslashes (\).

The following query lists all customers whose last name is BUCKLER:

>LIST CUSTOMERS WITH LAST-NAME "BUCKLER"

The following topics are presented in this section:

Making the Use of Quotes Optional