This topic contains information about using the CPYTOIMPF command
with delimited import files.
Blanks
You can use the RMVBLANK parameter to handle blank characters from the
character fields. The RMVBLANK parameter has the following options: - *NONE: All leading and trailing blanks are retained.
- *LEADING: Leading blanks are removed. This is the default value.
- *TRAILING: Trailing blanks are removed.
- *BOTH: Leading and trailing blanks are removed.
Note: Removal of blanks, as specified by the RMVBLANK parameter, takes
precedence over string delimiters.

- Null fields
- If a field is null, the field contains two adjacent field delimiters (no
data in between).
- Delimiters
-

- A delimiter cannot be a blank.
- A string delimiter or a string escape character cannot be the same as
a field delimiter, a record delimiter, a decimal point, a date separator,
or a time separator.
- A field delimiter cannot be the same as a record delimiter.
- When a string delimiter character is contained by a string, precede the
string delimiter in the string with the string escape character specified
with the STRESCCHR parameter.
- The defaults for delimiters are as follows:
- String is: *DBLQUOTE (double quotation mark)
- Field is: , (comma)
- Decimal point is: . (period)
- Record is: *EOR (end of record)
String escape character
When a string delimiter character is contained by a string, you can use
the STRESCCHR parameter to specify a string escape character for indicating
that the string delimiter character should be treated as a normal character
instead of string delimiter.The STRESCCHR parameter has the following options:
- *NONE: No string escape character is used.
- *STRDLM: The string delimiter is used as the string escape character.
- character-value: The character-value is
used as the string escape character.

- Numeric fields
- Decimal points are either a period or a comma (command option).
- Graphic fields
- The string delimiter is placed around all graphic data. If graphic data
is contained in the file and the string delimiter is the *NONE value, an error
is signaled.
- All fields
- The CAST function in SQL copies the data from the from-file to the to-file.
All data is copied and the relative record numbers of the from-file and to-file
are the same, unless the from-file contains deleted records. Deleted records
are not copied.
- CCSIDs
- The data from the from-file is read into the to-file's CCSID.
If
the CCSID of the from-file field is 65535, the data will be converted from
the CCSID specified in the FROMCCSID parameter.
- Date fields
- All date formats supported by iSeries™ can
be exported (*ISO, *USA, *EUR, *JIS, *MDY, *DMY, *YMD, *JUL, *YYMD).
- Time fields
- All time formats supported by iSeries can
be exported (*ISO, *USA, *EUR, *JIS, *HMS).
- Date and time separators
- All valid separators are supported for date and time fields.
- Timestamp fields
- Timestamp export fields must be 26 bytes.