Re: Are SQL statement lines limited to 80 characters ?

The RPG reference says this:

-> https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.6.0?topic=functions-sql

And this:

-> https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.6.0?topic=specifications-free-form-statements#freestmt

The essence is:

- in **free there is no limitation of the statement length

- in /free (or "column-limited free-form source") everything after column 80 has to be preceded by // and therefore is a comment

So there shouldn't be a problem with source after column 80 in **free source.

Which error message is emitted by the pre-compiler? Does RDi flag the statement as invalid?

HTH
Daniel

Am 06.02.2026 um 19:15 schrieb Dan Bale via RPG400-L <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

I found a program in production that has **FREE at the top of the source and one SQL statement that extends to column 85.

Just remember that **FREE is different than /free. Someone can confirm/deny, but I think /free is still limited to 80 columns.

- Dan Bale

-----Original Message-----
From: RPG400-L <rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Richard Schoen
Sent: Friday, February 6, 2026 12:45 PM
To: rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Are SQL statement lines limited to 80 characters ?

Maybe some of you already know this, but I just spent a couple hours debugging an SQL statement that worked great in ACS Run SQL but would not pass the SQLRPGLE pre-compiler test.

As it turns out I believe each line of an SQL statement can only be up to position 80 before you need to continue on the next line.

I read something that alluded specifying **free would allow longer lines, but that didn't seem to help.

Can someone tell me what the reality is for this ?

Am I limited to 80 line SQL statements in SQLRPGLE ?

Thanks

Regards,
Richard Schoen

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