Sql Cook Book

SQL Cookbook
Graeme Birchall
20-Feb-2007

Graeme Birchall ©

2

DB2 9 Cookbook ©

Preface
Important!

If you didn't get this document directly from my personal website, you may have got an older
edition. The book is changed very frequently, so if you want the latest, go to the source. Also,
the latest edition is usually the best book to have, as the examples are often muchbetter. This
is true even if you are using an older version of DB2.
This Cookbook is written for DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows. It is not suitable for DB2
for z/OS unless you are running DB2 8 in new-function-mode, or (even better) DB2 9.
Acknowledgements

I did not come up with all of the ideas presented in this book. Many of the best examples were
provided by readers, friends, and/orcoworkers too numerous to list. Thanks also to the many
people at IBM for their (strictly unofficial) assistance.
Disclaimer & Copyright

DISCLAIMER: This document is a best effort on my part. However, I screw up all the time,
so it would be extremely unwise to trust the contents in its entirety. I certainly don't. And if
you do something silly based on what I say, life is tough.
COPYRIGHT: You canmake as many copies of this book as you wish. And I encourage you
to give it to others. But you cannot charge for it (other than to recover reproduction costs), nor
claim the material as your own, nor replace my name with another. You are also encouraged
to use the related class notes for teaching. In this case, you can charge for your time and materials - and your expertise. But you cannotcharge any licensing fee, nor claim an exclusive
right of use. In other words, you can pretty well do anything you want. And if you find the
above too restrictive, just let me know.
TRADEMARKS: Lots of words in this document, like "DB2", are registered trademarks of
the IBM Corporation. Lots of other words, like "Windows", are registered trademarks of the
Microsoft Corporation. Acrobat is aregistered trademark of the Adobe Corporation.
Tools Used

This book was written on a Dell PC that came with oodles of RAM. All testing was done in
DB2 9. Word for Windows was used to write the document. Adobe Acrobat was used to
make the PDF file.
Book Binding

This book looks best when printed on a doubled sided laser printer and then suitably bound.
To this end, I did some experiments afew years ago to figure out how to bind books cheaply
using commonly available materials. I came up with what I consider to be a very satisfactory
solution that is fully documented on page 435.
Author / Book

Author:
Email:
Web:
Title:
Date:

Preface

Graeme Birchall ©
Graeme_Birchall@verizon.net
http://mysite.verizon.net/Graeme_Birchall/
DB2 9 SQL Cookbook ©
20-Feb-2007

3Graeme Birchall ©

Author Notes
Book History

This book originally began a series of notes for my own use. After a while, friends began to
ask for copies, and enemies started to steal it, so I decided to tidy everything up and give it
away. Over the years, new chapters have been added as DB2 has evolved, and as I have found
new ways to solve problems. Hopefully, this process will continuefor the foreseeable future.
Why Free

This book is free because I want people to use it. The more people that use it, and the more
that it helps them, the more inclined I am to keep it up to date. For these reasons, if you find
this book to be useful, please share it with others.
This book is free, rather than formally published, because I want to deliver the best product
that I can. If Ihad a publisher, I would have the services of an editor and a graphic designer,
but I would not be able to get to market so quickly, and when a product changes as quickly as
DB2 does, timeliness is important. Also, giving it away means that I am under no pressure to
make the book marketable. I simply include whatever I think might be useful.
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