Re: Flat file creation problems

Assuming you refer to AY 11111, you hit a 'feature'. Any numeric column always has an extra position for the sign, which contains a '-' when the number is negative and a ' ' when the number is positive. Personally I would use a separator like a ',' or a '|'. In your case you probably need to suppress the unwanted space by using to_char.

Hth,

--
Sybrand Bakker, Oracle DBA
Ste C. <stephencassidy_at_my-deja.com> wrote in message news:8678so$5g5$1_at_nnrp1.deja.com...
> I want to create a flat file from a table
>
> I've set up the following
>
> set head off
> set pages 0
> set newp 0
> set lines 132
> set echo off
> set feed off
> set spac 0
> column a format 99999
> column b format a25
> column c format a1
> column z format 9999
>
> spool temp.lis;
>
> select column1 a,
> column2 b,
> column3 c,
> column4 z
> from columns
> where column3 = 'Y'
> /
> spool off
> /
>
> when I edit the file temp.lis the output looks like
>
> 11111AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY 1111
> 22222AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY 2222
> 33333AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY 3333
> 44444AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY 4444
> 55555AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY 5555
> ^ unknown space
>
> for some reason there is a space appearing where there shouldn't be
> one. Does anybody have any idead as to why this is happening ?
>
> --
> Arrgh
>
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
Received on Thu Jan 20 2000 - 09:42:05 CST