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CREATE SEQUENCE Statement

Use

You create a number generator the values of which can be determined by specifying NEXTVAL and CURRVAL.

For an INSERT or UPDATE statement, both the last used and next value in the sequence can be entered in any column of any table providing the data type of the column allows this. However, it is not possible to define the last used or next value of a sequence as the default value of a column. The value must always be specified explicitly.

Both the last used and next value in the sequence can be selected. They are therefore also available for use in the application.

Procedure

You create a sequence with the CREATE SEQUENCE statement. For this, you define, among other things, a name and an initial value (optional, system default is 1). In addition, you specify how the next value in the sequence is to be generated, for example +1 (system default) or –5.

<sequence_name>.NEXTVAL	Next value in the sequence
<sequence_name>.CURRVAL	Last value determined within the current session using <sequence_name>.NEXTVAL

If <sequence_name>.NEXTVAL has not been used yet within the current session, specification of <sequence_name>.CURRVAL is invalid.

Up to and including SAP DB version 7.3.0.17, there were problems using sequence values. As a result, you are advised to use SAP DB version 7.3.0.18 or higher for the use of sequence values.

Examples for the multiple use of a sequence

• Sequence for several tables
• Sequence value used several times

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