UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello Everyone,

I am currently working with a DB2 (ver 8.1) table (Newly Created) and I am running a basic DB2 Select query into a variable. The field and it's size are VARCHAR(20). Since I need to pass the variable through some java I have noticed that when the results come back from the query there are extra spaces. Even if I use the RTRIM or LTRIM I still receive the spaces.

Is there a way to set a variable lenght before the results of a query are passed to it?

I would like to do the following,

Code:

variable1=`db2 -xn "length(rtrim(field1)) from Database"`
if (( variable1 == 16 ))
then
set $variable2 lenght to 16
fi
variable2=`db2 -xn "select LTRIM(RTRIM(field1)) from Database"`

Then I can pass $variable2 through the java.

I know it doesn't make much sense but it's what I need, hopefully.

thanks in advance...........