Hi!
Do you know how to use SQL to make an 'indirection'. You remember in the C language, how you can treat the contents of a variable as a pointer to another variable location, or in other 4th generation languages (& some OS stuff), you can use a 'handle' to hold an indirect reference to another variable...

I want to do something similar in SQL. I want a column in a table to hold a string that is a column name. I want to create an SQL statement that will use the value of that column name and perform a comparison.

For example, there it a table:
Table: T_Compare_Columns
( col_name char(50) )

Another table:
Table: T_Datastuff
( name_ch char(20),
county_ch char(20),
salary_dc decimal ( 12,2) )

Insert a line into T_Compare_columns:
Insert into T_Compare_columns
values ( 'county_cd' )

Then use that to perform an 'indirect reference' comparison. This statement is pure fiction. I know it will not work in this form:

select *
from T_Datastuff
where T_Compare_column.col_name = T_datastuff.COLUMN_NAME
and t_datastuff.COLUMN_NAME = 'RICHLAND'

Thank you,

Alena