Comparing Null values in PL/SQL with varchar2

I'm searching for an elegant way to compare two varchar2 vars, what i want is this

var1 var2 result
'' '' true

null        null       true


'aa'        'aa'        true


'a'            'b'        false

when using nvl() like this:

a varchar2(10);
b varchar2(10);

if nvl(a,'blabla') = nvl(b,'blabla')
then
  et etc.

i always have to be sure that b or a cannot be 'blabla', can anybody tell me what a better solution is, WITHOUT writing all the code out ( if a is null ) ?????

Please reply with e-mail: jeroenhog_at_gmx.net

greetings and thanks in advance Jeroen Received on Sat Sep 04 1999 - 04:12:23 CDT