Statements of the form:
exec sql DECLARE :host-var1[, :host-var2, :host-varN] VARIABLE FOR BIT DATA ... end-exec
are permitted and are treated as comments.
Statements of the form:
exec sql DECLARE host-var1[, host-var2, host-varN] VARIABLE FOR BIT DATA ... end-exec
instruct the DB2 ECM to not do ASCII/EBCDIC translation on the specified host variable(s).