Re: How would I....

Use some PL and let it throw an exception ...

DECLARE
 result varchar2(x) ;
 num number ;
BEGIN  select to_number(substr(name,1,1)) into num from table ; -- no exception thrown ? it's a number
 select 'LOT' || name into result from table ;

EXCEPTION
 WHEN ... THEN
-- exception handling -> the first character is a char

   select name into result from table ; END "Jon Bon Jovi" <jon_at_bon.com> wrote in message news:3C0BFBDD.4ADDD91D_at_bon.com...
> Take the first letter of a varchar2 column and determine if it's
> a char or a number?
> ie.
>
> select decode(substr(name,1,1),<IF STRING>,name,'LOT '||name) from table
>
> If the first char of the name column is a string then just use the name
> column, otherwise
> concatenate the word 'LOT ' to the beginning of the column.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Mon Dec 03 2001 - 16:45:59 CST