arithmetic on a DATE column?

 Please forgive me if this question has a blatantly obvious answer...

I have a column in a table that contains dates on which I would like to do some arithmetic. Specifically, I would like to modify some of those dates by making "Date = Date + 1day + 4years". I know that an expression like date+1 would work to add one day to a given date, but how do I add the years? In my dream world I could use an expression like:

SQL> select to_char(sysdate + to_date('1-4','D-Y')) from dual;

but alas I know that doesn't work. I don't want to use an expression like "date + (365*4) + 1" because that doesn't correct for potential leap year issues...

Any assistance would be most welcome.

Thanks.

Sergio.

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Sergio H. Rotstein, Ph.D.
Manager of Research Informatics
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

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Sergio H. Rotstein, Ph.D.
Manager of Discovery Information Systems Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

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Sergio H. Rotstein, Ph.D.
Manager of Discovery Information Systems Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

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Before you buy. Received on Thu Oct 19 2000 - 20:45:05 CDT