EXECUTE IMMEDIATE

The EXECUTE IMMEDIATE statement (embedded SQL only) prepares an executable statement from a character string and then immediately executes the statement.

Invocation

EXECUTE IMMEDIATE is an executable command that can only be embedded in a host language. EXECUTE IMMEDIATE cannot be dynamically prepared.

Authorization

The authorization required for EXECUTE IMMEDIATE conforms exactly with whatever authorization is needed to dynamically prepare the SQL statement indicated in the statement string argument. Consult individual SQL command descriptions in this reference for authorization requirements.

Syntax

EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 
    {string-expression | host-variable}

Parameters:

`string-expression`	A delimited character string that can contain any valid SQL command except CLOSE, DESCRIBE, EXECUTE, EXECUTE IMMEDIATE, FETCH, INCLUDE, OPEN, PREPARE, WHENEVER, or SELECT.
`host-variable`	Identifies a variable defined in working storage (according to the rules for declaring character string variables in the host language) that contains a valid string expression (statement string).

Description

The EXECUTE IMMEDIATE command prepares and executes non-SELECT SQL commands within a statement string. You should check the syntax of the SQL statement you plan to use before placing that statement into an EXECUTE IMMEDIATE command. This check can be performed with SQLWizard.

The statement string cannot contain parameter markers (question marks) or references to host variables. The statement cannot begin with EXEC SQL or end with END-EXEC (or a semicolon). If the SQL command appearing in the statement string is invalid, an error condition is reported to the SQLCA.

The statement string must be one of the following SQL statements:

ALTER	RENAME
COMMENT ON	REVOKE
COMMIT	ROLLBACK
CREATE	SET CURRENT DEGREE
DELETE	SET CURRENT LOCALE LC_CTYPE
DROP	SET CURRENT OPTIMIZATION HINT
EXPLAIN	SET CURRENT PATH
GRANT	SET CURRENT PRECISION
INSERT	SET CURRENT RULES
LABEL ON	SET CURRENT SQLID
LOCK TABLE	UPDATE

Examples:

Host variables cannot be used in the string expressions.

EXEC SQL 
    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 
    'DELETE FROM employee WHERE fname = "Elvis"'
END-EXEC

EXEC SQL 
    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 
        'UPDATE employee 
    SET fname = "Elvis" 
    WHERE e_no = 1'
END-EXEC

Another example of EXECUTE IMMEDIATE embedded in COBOL appears below:

MOVE 'UPDATE employee SET fname = "Elvis" 
    WHERE e_no = 1' 
    TO exstr 

EXEC SQL 
    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE :exstr
END-EXEC