Re: Another angle on this....

From: Brian Dick <bdick_at_cox.net>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 21:06:56 GMT
Message-ID: <QdUc8.35343$nI1.177701@news1.wwck1.ri.home.com>

"Heinz Kiosk" <no.spam_at_ntlworld.com> wrote in message news:3ZTc8.125540$H37.16031960_at_news2-win.server.ntlworld.com...
> THING EXCEPT IN ORACLE (how rude to shout). Also not just SS but DB2,
Sybase
> et al.

Actually, SS and Sybase do their own weird thing to an empty string. They convert it to a single blank character. But since trailing blanks are ignored in character comparisons, it usually doesn't matter. Also, database drivers often trim strings before returning them to the client. Again this makes the single blank innocuous.

I'm with you. An empty string is a discrete value. It is not a null. It is analogous to the numeric value of 0.

But I'm sure this Oracle implementation anomaly is buried deep within the database engine. We just have to live with it.

Later,
BEDick Received on Wed Feb 20 2002 - 15:06:56 CST