Yes it's a bug, fixed in 11.0.1.2479: http://search.sybase.com/kbx/changerequests?bug_id=637203

Thanks go to Tyson Lewis of Sybase for answering on the NNTP newsgroup.

Here's my earlier attempt to answer; maybe I should upgrade too :)...

I think there is a bug here... the behavior should not be different.

However, I see different results in 11.0.1.2276.

First, when the SELECT and OUTPUT are run in dbisql in GUI mode, two of the columns are right-aligned, and the rest are left aligned.

Second, the batch file version left-aligns all text fields, which (I believe) is what it should do.

Please run the following test on your version to see what you get:

create table person_sap(
/* a */ "ID_PERSON" VARCHAR(8) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
/* b */ "DAT_CHANGE" DATE NOT NULL,
/* c */ "COD_STATUS" VARCHAR(1) NOT NULL,
/* d */ "NAME" VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
/* e */ "FIRST_NAME" VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
/* f */ "MIDDLE_NAME" VARCHAR(40) NULL,
/* g */ "INITIALS" VARCHAR(10) NULL,
/* h */ "NB_PAY_ROLL" VARCHAR(40) NULL,
/* i */ "SAP_GROUP" VARCHAR(1) NULL,
/* j */ "SAP_PERS_SUB" VARCHAR(4) NULL,
/* k */ "SAP_PLANT" VARCHAR(4) NOT NULL,
/* l */ "SAP_CC" VARCHAR(10) NULL,
/* m */ "SSN" VARCHAR(20) NULL,
/* n */ "DAT_EFF" DATE NULL)

INSERT person_sap VALUES ( 'a', CURRENT DATE, 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', CURRENT DATE );
COMMIT;

select id_person, dateformat(dat_eff,'YYYYMMDD'),cod_status,
sap_group, sap_pers_sub, sap_plant, "name", middle_name, first_name, initials, nb_pay_roll, ssn
from person_sap where dat_change>='2010-10-21';

id_person,dateformat(person_sap.dat_eff,'YYYYMMDD'),cod_status,sap_group,sap_pers_sub,sap_plant,name,middle_name,first_name,initials,nb_pay_roll,ssn
'a','20101028','c','i','j','k','d','f','e','g','h','m'

OUTPUT TO "C:\temp\actions.txt"
FORMAT FIXED;

NAME                                    MIDDLE NAME
aaaaaaaabbbbbbbbcijjjjkkkkddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeegggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
a       20101028ci   jk                                          d                                       fe                                       g         h                                       m

"%SQLANY11%\bin32\dbisql.com" -c "ENG=ddd11;DBN=ddd11;UID=dba;PWD=sql;CON=ddd11-2" -q x.sql

NAME                                    MIDDLE NAME
aaaaaaaabbbbbbbbcijjjjkkkkddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeegggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
a       20101028cij   k   d                                       f                                       e                                       g         h                                       m