What's this book about?

This guide documents the changes made in the Firebird SQL language between InterBase 6 and Firebird 2.1.x. It covers the following areas:

• Reserved words
• Data types and subtypes
• DDL statements (Data Definition Language)
• DML statements (Data Manipulation Language)
• Transaction control statements
• PSQL statements (Procedural SQL, used in stored procedures and triggers)
• Context variables
• Operators and predicates
• Aggregate functions
• Internal functions
• UDFs (User Defined Functions, also known as external functions)

To have a complete Firebird 2.1 SQL reference, you need:

• The InterBase 6.0 beta SQL Reference (LangRef.pdf and/or SQLRef.html)
• This document

Non-SQL topics are not discussed in this document. These include:

• ODS versions
• Bug listings
• Installation and configuration
• Upgrade, migration and compatibility
• Server architectures
• API functions
• Connection protocols
• Tools and Utilities

Consult the Release Notes for information on these subjects. You can find the Release Notes and other documentation via the Firebird Documentation Index at https://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php?op=doc.

This document covers all Firebird versions up to and including 2.1.4.

More than 90% of the text in this document is new. The remainder was lifted from various Firebird Release Notes editions, which in turn contain material from preceding sources like the Whats new documents.

Authors and editors of the included material are:

• J. Beesley
• Helen Borrie
• Arno Brinkman
• Frank Ingermann
• Vlad Khorsun
• Alex Peshkov
• Nickolay Samofatov
• Adriano dos Santos Fernandes
• Dmitry Yemanov