Sybase ASE - Identifiers

This article describes identifiers in Sybase ASE.

Identifier Rules

Sybase ASE - Identifier Rules
First Character	An alphabetical character, underscore (_), at sign (@) and pound sign (#)
Subsequent Characters	Alphanumeric characters, underscore (_), dollar sign ($), pound sign (#) and at sign (@)
Maximum Length	255 characters user name and cursor name are limited to 30 characters
Case Sensitivity	Identifiers are case insensitive Case sensitivity is controlled on the DB server installation or by DBA
Standards	ANSI SQL - $ is not allowed

Identifiers - Differences between Sybase ASE and other Databases

Database	Identifiers	First Character	Subsequent Characters	Max Length
Oracle	Oracle Identifiers	Not allowed: _ , @ and #	Not allowed: @	30
SQL Server	SQL Server Identifiers	No differences	No differences	128
IBM DB2	IBM DB2 Identifiers	Not allowed: _ , @ and #	Not allowed: @, # and $	128
MySQL	MySQL Identifiers	Allowed: digit Not allowed: _, @ and #	Not allowed: # and @	64
PostgreSQL	PostgreSQL Identifiers	Not allowed: @ and #	Not allowed: # and @	63
Sybase ASA	Sybase ASA Identifiers	Allowed: $	No differences	128
Informix	Informix Identifiers	Not allowed: @ and #	Not allowed: @ and #	128
Teradata	Teradata Identifiers	Allowed: $ Not allowed: @	Not allowed: @	30
HP Neoview	HP Neoview Identifiers	Not allowed: _, @ and #	Not allowed: @, # and $	128
Interbase/Firebird	Interbase/Firebird Identifiers	Not allowed: _, @ and #	Not allowed: # and @	67

Sybase ASE - Quoted Identifiers
Quotation Marks	Double quotation marks (“”) and brackets ([]) Double quotation marks can be used only to delimit table, view and column names
Characters	Any characters except the pound sign (#) as the first character
Maximum Length	253 characters, not including the quotation marks
Case Sensitivity	Case insensitive. For example, “tab 1” and “Tab 1” are considered the same
Notes	When QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is set to ON, SQL Server follows the SQL-92 rules for the use of double quotation marks (“) and the single quotation mark (') in SQL statements.

Quoted Identifiers - Differences between Sybase ASE and other Databases

Database	Identifiers	Quotation Marks	Characters	Case Sensitivity
Oracle	Oracle Quoted Identifiers	”“	Any except quotes	Case sensitive
SQL Server	SQL Server Quoted Identifiers	[] and ”“	Any except quotes	Case insensitive
IBM DB2	IBM DB2 Quoted Identifiers	”“	Any including quotes	Case sensitive
MySQL	MySQL Quoted Identifiers	`` and ”“	Any except quotes	Case sensitive
PostgreSQL	PostgreSQL Quoted Identifiers	”“	Any including quotes	Case sensitive
Sybase ASA	Sybase ASA Quoted Identifiers	[] and ”“	Any	Case insensitive
Informix	Informix Quoted Identifiers	”“	Any including quotes	Case sensitive
Teradata	Teradata Quoted Identifiers	”“	Any including quotes	Case insensitive
HP Neoview	HP Neoview Quoted Identifiers	”“	Any except at sign (@), forward slash (/), circumflex character (^) as the first character and space(s) as the last character(s)	Case sensitive
Interbase/Firebird	Interbase/Firebird Quoted Identifiers	”“	Any character except space(s) as the last character(s)	Case sensitive