Question about VARYING fields in RPG IV

Hello,

Can someone explain how VARYING fields work? I have defined a VARYING field in
an RPG IV/embedded SQL program  as follows:

ITEM    S     25A      VARYING.

I execute the SQL statement and retrieve a value into variable ITEM. The length
of the value returned could vary from 5 to 25. I then use variable ITEM, in
another SQL select statement to retrieve data from Oracle using Oracle Access
Manager. The field that I am selecting against, is defined as VARCHAR in Oracle.
The problem is that field ITEM retains trailing blanks at the end when the the
value is shorter than 25. Consequently I don't find a hit in Oracle. So, I have
to %TRIM variable ITEM before using this variable to retrieve from Oracle. I
have the program working but - shouldn't a VARYING field by definition drop
trailing blanks. Otherwise what is the advantage in defining a field as VARYING.
Why not just go with a standard alpha field definition ?

Thanks



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