When a catalog function string argument is an ordinary argument, it is treated as a literal string. An ordinary argument accepts neither a string search pattern, nor a list of values. The case of an ordinary argument is significant, and quote characters in the string are taken literally. These arguments are treated as ordinary arguments if the SQL_ATTR_METADATA_ID statement attribute is set to SQL_FALSE; they are treated as identifier arguments instead if this attribute is set to SQL_TRUE.
If an ordinary argument is set to a null pointer and the argument is a required argument, the function returns SQL_ERROR and SQLSTATE HY009 (Invalid use of null pointer). If an ordinary argument is set to a null pointer and the argument is not a required argument, the argument’s behavior is driver-dependent. The following arguments are required arguments:
| Function | Required arguments |
| SQLColumnPrivileges | TableName |
| SQLForeignKeys | PKTableName, FKTableName |
| SQLPrimaryKeys | TableName |
| SQLSpecialColumns | TableName |
| SQLStatistics | TableName |