Sybase With Clause using a declare

mmm, not something I know a lot about, but documentation suggests a slightly different syntax to TSQL.

CREATE VARIABLE identifier data-type
http://dcx.sybase.com/index.html#1101/en/dbreference_en11/create-variable-statement.html

The SET statement assigns a new value to a variable. The variable must have been previously created using a CREATE VARIABLE statement or DECLARE statement, or it must be an OUTPUT parameter for a procedure. The variable name can optionally use the Transact-SQL convention of an @ sign preceding the name. For example:

SET @localvar = 42

A variable can be used in a SQL statement anywhere a column name is allowed. If a column name exists with the same name as the variable, the variable value is used.

http://dcx.sybase.com/index.html#1101/en/dbreference_en11/set-statement.html

so without an ability to trial it, it might look like:

CREATE VARIABLE myDate datetime
set @myDate = '2013-06-19'
; with table1 as (
                           select * from whatever where adate > @myDate
                         )
select
*
from table1;

but 99% of the above is an assumption I regret to say

Thanks for your response.

The problem I have is that I know the correct syntax for DECLARE and WITH but I am unable to combine the two in one statement.

I can DECLARE a variable in a statement without a WITH and vice versa...

documentation suggests declare is for use with BEGIN - END

have you tried CREATE VARIABLE

I too would have started with declare - but that appears to be different in Anywhere

The CREATE VARIABLE worked but the problem is that it is only dropped when the connection is dropped, the SQL will be ran from inside an application (report) and I think this may cause issues.

You can explicitly drop the created variable:

DROP VARIABLE  [ IF EXISTS ] identifier
Remarks
The DROP VARIABLE statement eliminates a SQL variable that was previously created using the CREATE VARIABLE statement. Variables are automatically eliminated when the database connection is released. Variables are often used for large objects, so eliminating them after use or setting them to NULL can free up significant resources (primarily disk space).

Use the IF EXISTS clause if you do not want an error returned when the DROP statement attempts to remove a database object that does not exist.

http://dcx.sybase.com/index.html#1101/en/dbreference_en11/drop-variable-statement.html

thank you! I trust you were able to get the variables to work.

Cheers, Paul