what is the syntax or is there a syntax in sql 7 to replace lets say 7 date fields in a table with one command. ie: name a variable, dt = 2002-06-12 then set each date field = dt ??? that way if i need to change the dates again i just need to change dt instead of every set command.

There is no SQL version 7! Do you mean MS SQL 7...

yes that is what i mean, didn't know other companies wrote sql.

SQL is a language, not a product.. It's actually "MS SQL Server 7"

There are many SQL servers, most of them superior to Microsoft SQL server.
Take a look at mySQL (http://www.mysql.org) and Interbase (http://www.inprise.com).

Don't forget postgres! It is really fast when you turn off the fsync() after every database operation (most people don't know you can turn that off, hence people think it is slow). I think one benchmarked showed postgres being faster than oracle 8i or something.

Ok......but what about my question?

I've never heard of linked fields like that in SQL.

Finally....I have the answer to my original question. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will be more than happy to give you the answer. Thanks DATAPOINT

/me knew the answer to the question last night when he was reading the postgresql manual

Something about using UPDATE...

UPDATE table SET field = new_value, ... WHERE (some expression); or something like that.

Oh, then I misread the question. It looked like he wanted to set a number of fields to use a shared/linked variable, so that when he changed that variable, everything linked to it would automatically change.

oops, I guess I misread the question.../me hits self with lamer stick.

Anyway, I'd like to see the answer...

here's the syntax:

declare @date smalldatetime
set @date = '2002-06-18'
update 'a table name'
set 'thisdate' = @date
set 'thatdate' = @date
set 'otherdate' = @date

so all date fields = to @date are changed to june 18. usually a good idea to begin the command with 'begin tran' then if it's ok run 'commit' or if not 'rollback'

or if you have a alpha field then the syntax is:

declare @field varchar(field size)

enjoy...........

clinton@vsynth:guile-core$ createdb test
CREATE DATABASE
clinton@vsynth:guile-core$ psql test
Welcome to psql, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

Type: \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\? for help on internal slash commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit

test=> declare @date smalldatetime;
ERROR: parser: parse error at or near "@"
test=> \q

So I guess it is MS SQL specific...