----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Sergeant" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Jeff Zucker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 12:58 Subject: Re: Should DBI/DBD support empty strings as an alternative to undef for NULL?
> On 21 Feb 2002, Jeff Zucker wrote: > > > Tim Bunce wrote: > > > > > > On Wed, Feb 13, 2002 at 01:52:11PM -0800, Jonathan Leffler wrote: > > > > > > > > I've been emulating a pseudo-SQL command, UNLOAD, in DBI and > > > > DBD::Informix, and one of the messy parts is handling the mapping of > > > > undef into an empty string so as not to get warnings with 'perl -w'. > > > > Amen. The problem is compounded in drivers like DBD::CSV which can't > > consistently distinguish between empty strings and NULLs. > > So don't use CSV. Dump to XML with XML::Generator::DBI :-) Unfortunately '' == NULL is also a problem in other primitive database emulators, Oracle for instance. <G> -- Mac :}) ** I normally forward private questions to the appropriate mail list. ** Ask Smarter: http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html Give a hobbit a fish and he eats fish for a day. Give a hobbit a ring and he eats fish for an age.
