Re: Should TO_CHAR be replaced by high level code with pl/sql calls?

Hi,

It may slightly make sense only if your programs are written in C or C++ (OCI, Pro*C, OCCI) and you make many calls to the database with SQL using TO_CHAR and also depending on how fast your own C conversion is. The to_char's implemented in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/stdspec.sql and stdbody.sql are either pragma builtin or simply rely on implicit conversions. I don't know the exact mechanism for the pragma builtin keyword but the function is almost certainly implemented in C and would be called in the SQL engine directly so should be reasonably efficient. We don't know the details of why this is suggested but on balance its probably not worth the effort.

Kind regards

Pete

-- 
Pete Finnigan
email:pete_at_petefinnigan.com
Web site: http://www.petefinnigan.com - Oracle security audit specialists
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