Appendix A Notation Conventions - Teradata Database

This appendix describes the notation conventions used in this book.

Throughout this manual, two conventions are used to describe the SQL syntax and code:

Syntax diagrams, used to describe SQL syntax form, including options.

Square braces in the text, used to represent options. The indicated parentheses are required when you specify options.

For example:

DECIMAL [(n[,m])] means the decimal data type can be defined optionally:

without specifying the precision value n or scale value m

specifying precision (n) only

specifying both values (n, m)

you cannot specify scale without first defining precision.

CHARACTER [(n)] means that use of (n) is optional.

The values for n and m are integers in all cases

Symbols from the predicate calculus, set theory, and dependency theory are also used occasionally to describe logical operations. See “Predicate Calculus and Set Theory Notation Used in This Manual” on page 829 and “Dependency Theory Notation Used in This Manual” on page 830.