SQL: bind variables for date used in query?

Hi,

if found the following problem while using bind variables in an sqlscript (no PL/SQL):

var startdate STRING;
var startdate := '21.01.2002 00:00:00';

• this works select :startdate from dual;
• this doesn't work ( Error: ORA-01858: complaining about a non numeric char where a numeric char was expected) select to_date(:startdate, 'dd.mm.yyyy hh24:mi:ss') from dual;
• this works because of cutting the first char select to_date(substr(:startdate,2), 'dd.mm.yyyy hh24:mi:ss') from dual;

The thing is, that the bind var 'startdate' contains a ' as the first character.

Does anybody know why this ' is in the variable?

Thanks
Carsten Received on Fri Feb 08 2002 - 03:57:12 CST