Why am I getting syntax error for the following sql in sybase?

Question

I get an syntax error on line 7 - "BEGIN" for while -

 BEGIN
        IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 from table1)
        THEN
            IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 from table2)
            THEN
            WHILE EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM table3)
            BEGIN
                BEGIN TRANSACTION;

                COMMIT TRANSACTION;
            END
            END IF;
        END IF;
    END

Any suggestions or pointers?

Have you tried using T-SQL `IF`, instead of Watcom `IF - THEN` syntax? http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.help.sqlanywhere.12.0.1/dbreference/if-tsql-statement.html — Mike Gardner, Oct 21 '13 at 15:55
@MichaelGardner It did work, but unfortunately not yet working in the bigger picture. I'm guessing if we use both syntaxes mixed I guess it may cause issues? — Vishal, Oct 21 '13 at 16:24

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

The problem was as @Michael pointed out, there are two different type of dialects - T-SQL and WATCOM-SQL, I had to rewrite while loop in Watcom-SQL syntax to be compatible with rest of Watcom-sql syntax -

BEGIN
        IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 from table1)
        THEN
            IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 from table2)
            THEN
            WHILE EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM table3) LOOP
            BEGIN
                BEGIN TRANSACTION;

                COMMIT TRANSACTION;
            END LOOP;
            END IF;
        END IF;
    END

Why am I getting syntax error for the following sql in sybase?

1 Answers1