Sybase SQL Anywhere to PostgreSQL Migration

SQLines tools can help you transfer data, convert database schema (DDL), views, stored procedures, functions, triggers, queries and SQL scripts from SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere, Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) to PostgreSQL (Postgres).

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Databases:

SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere 17, 16, 12, 11, 10, 9 and 5
PostgreSQL 18.x, 17.x, 16.x, 15.x, 14.x, 13.x, 12.x, 11.x, 10.x and 9.x

Migration Reference

SQL Language Elements

Operators:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	str1 \|\| str2 \|\| ...	String concatenation, NULLs ignored	CONCAT(str1, str2, ...)	str1 \|\| str2 \|\| ...

Data Types

Date and time data types:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	DATE	Date (year, month and day)	DATE
2	DATETIME	Date and time with fraction	TIMESTAMP
3	DATETIMEOFFSET	Date and time with fraction and time zone	TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE
4	SMALLDATETIME	Date and time with fraction	TIMESTAMP
5	TIME	Time (hour, minute, second and fraction)	TIME
6	TIMESTAMP	Date and time with fraction (microseconds)	TIMESTAMP(p)
7	TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE	Date and time with fraction and time zone	TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE

Numeric data types:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	BIGINT	64-bit integer	BIGINT
2	DECIMAL(p,s), DEC(p,s)	Fixed point number	DECIMAL(p,s), DEC(p,s)
3	DOUBLE [PRECISION]	Double-precision floating-point number	DOUBLE PRECISION
4	FLOAT(p)	Floating-point number	DOUBLE PRECISION
5	INTEGER, INT	32-bit integer	INTEGER, INT
6	MONEY	Monetary data	MONEY
7	NUMERIC(p,s)	Fixed point number	NUMERIC(p,s)
8	REAL	Single-precision floating-point number	REAL
9	SMALLINT	16-bit integer	SMALLINT
10	SMALLMONEY	Monetary data, ⇐ million currency units	MONEY
11	TINYINT	8-bit unsigned integer, 0 to 255	SMALLINT
12	UNSIGNED BIGINT	64-bit unsigned integer	NUMERIC(20)
13	UNSIGNED INT	32-bit unsigned integer	NUMERIC(10)
14	UNSIGNED SMALLINT	16-bit unsigned integer	NUMERIC(5)
15	UNSIGNED TINYINT	8-bit unsigned integer	NUMERIC(3)

Converting data types:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	BINARY(n)	Variable-length binary string, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	BYTEA
2	BINARY VARYING(n)	Variable-length binary string, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	BYTEA
3	CHAR(n), CHARACTER(n)	Fixed-length string, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	CHAR(n), CHARACTER(n)
4	IMAGE	Binary data, ⇐ 2G	BYTEA
5	LONG BINARY	Binary data, ⇐ 2G	BYTEA
6	LONG BIT VARYING	Bit array data, ⇐ 2G	BYTEA
7	LONG NVARCHAR	UTF-8 character data, ⇐ 2G	TEXT
8	LONG VARBIT	Bit array data, ⇐ 2G	BYTEA
9	LONG VARCHAR	Character data, ⇐ 2G	TEXT
10	NCHAR(n)	Fixed-length UTF-8 string, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	CHAR(n)
11	NTEXT	UTF-8 character data, ⇐ 2G	TEXT
12	NVARCHAR(n)	Variable-length UTF-8 string, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	VARCHAR(n)
13	TEXT	Character data, ⇐ 2G	TEXT
14	VARBINARY(n)	Variable-length binary string, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	BYTEA
15	VARCHAR(n)	Variable-length string, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	VARCHAR(n)

Other data types:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	BIT	0, 1 or NULL	BOOLEAN, BOOL
2	BIT VARYING(n)	Variable-length bit array, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	BIT VARYING(n)
3	UNIQUEIDENTIFIER	16-byte GUID (UUID) data	CHAR(16)
4	UNIQUEIDENTIFIERSTR	GUID (UUID) data in string format	UUID
5	VARBIT(n)	Variable-length bit array, 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767	VARBIT(n)
6	XML	XML data	XML

CREATE TABLE Statement

Converting table definitions:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	DEFAULT AUTOINCREMENT	Autoincrement column	GENERATED BY DEFAULT AS IDENTITY
2	AUTOINCREMENT on DECIMAL and NUMERIC columns		IDENTITY on integer columns only
3	DEFAULT TIMESTAMP	Auto-updated timestamp column	DEFAULT CLOCK_TIMESTAMP() and update trigger

INSERT Statement

Converting SQL INSERT statement:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	ON EXISTING UPDATE	Update duplicates on insert	ON CONFLICT ... DO UPDATE SET ...

CREATE PROCEDURE Statement

Converting stored procedures:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	CREATE ORE REPLACE PROCEDURE name		CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE name
2	IN \| OUT \| INOUT param datatype DEFAULT exp		IN \| OUT \| INOUT param datatype DEFAULT exp
3	() required when no parameters		() required when no parameters
4	RESULT(col datatype, ...)	Result set columns	Defined by result set query and REFCURSOR
5	Standalone SELECT	Return result set	OPEN cursor FOR SELECT

For further information, see Conversion of Procedural Statements.

CREATE FUNCTION Statement

Converting user-defined functions:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere	PostgreSQL
1	CREATE FUNCTION name	CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION name
2	(IN param datatype(length) DEFAULT default, …)	(IN param datatype(length) DEFAULT default, …)
3	RETURNS datatype(len)	RETURNS datatype(len)

For further information, see Conversion of Procedural Statements.

Procedural SQL Statements

Cursor declaration and operations:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	FOR rec CURSOR FOR SELECT ... DO ... END FOR	Cursor loop	FOR rec IN SELECT ... LOOP ... END LOOP

Flow-of-control statements:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	IF … THEN … ELSEIF … ELSE … END IF	IF statement	IF … THEN … ELSEIF … ELSE … END IF

Temporary tables:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere	PostgreSQL
1	DECLARE LOCAL TEMPORARY TABLE name (columns)	CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE name (columns)
2	ON COMMIT DELETE ROW \| PRESERVE ROWS	ON COMMIT DELETE ROW \| PRESERVE ROWS
3	NOT TRANSACTIONAL	Always transactional

Error handling:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	RAISERROR error_num text	Raise an error	RAISE EXCEPTION '%', text USING ERRCODE = error_num

Other statements:

	Sybase SQL Anywhere		PostgreSQL
1	MESSAGE text TYPE type TO destination	Send a message	RAISE NOTICE '%', text

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