FREE LOCATOR

The FREE LOCATOR statement removes the association between a LOB locator variable and its value.
Restriction: This topic applies to Windows environments only.

The XDB Server operating environment does not provide support for FREE LOCATOR at this time.

Invocation

This statement can only be embedded in an application program. It cannot be issued interactively. It is an executable statement that can be dynamically prepared. However, the EXECUTE statement with the USING clause must be used to execute the prepared statement. FREE LOCATOR cannot be used with the EXECUTE IMMEDIATE statement.

Authorization

None required.

Syntax

FREE LOCATOR {host-variable}

Description

host-variable,...

Identifies a host-variable locator variable that must have been previously declared according to the rules for declaring host-variable locator variables. The locator variable type must be a binary large object locator, a character large object locator, or a double-byte character large object locator.

After the FREE LOCATOR statement is executed, each locator variable in the host-variable list is no longer associated with the string value it represented.

If a locator variable is not an established locator within the current unit of work, an invalid locator error occurs. When this error occurs and more than one host variable was specified in the FREE LOCATOR statement, only the locators up to the first invalid locator are freed. Locators listed after the first invalid locator are not freed.

Example:

Assume that the employee table contains columns RESUME, HISTORY, and PICTURE and that locators have been established in a program to represent the column values. Free the CLOB locator variables LOCRES and LOCHIST, and the BLOB locator variable LOCPIC.

EXEC SQL FREE LOCATOR :LOCRES, :LOCHIST, :LOCPIC