Re: basic plsql question

This procedure is better. You could use the translate function alone, but the string parameters would make your code long and unwieldy.

create function word_fmt (word varchar2) return varchar2 is begin

    return translate(word,

        'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789',
        'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX9999999999'

if word_fmt('a52132') = 'X99999' then

    .....
end if;

or

if translate(word, 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789',
'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX9999999999') =
'X99999' then

    ....
end if; Received on Mon Aug 30 2004 - 21:36:11 CEST