Path: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu!spool.maxwell.syr.edu!drn.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!newsfeed.news2me.com!newsfeed2.easynews.com!newsfeed1.easynews.com!easynews.com!easynews!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-10!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Sybrand Bakker Newsgroups: comp.databases.oracle.misc Subject: Re: integer vs integer external in .ctl file Date: Fri, 09 Sep 2005 07:19:07 +0200 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: Reply-To: postbus@sybrandb.demon.nl References: <1126212515.739051.49110@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 3.0/32.763 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 16 Xref: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu comp.databases.oracle.misc:121722 On 8 Sep 2005 13:48:35 -0700, "cumin" wrote: >Looking on the web, I found that integer values in the .ctl file can be >changed to char() with a number of digits spcified in the parens. >Changing my .ctl file in that way does work. The other solution is to >change "integer" to "integer external" in the .ctl file. My question >is, "Why is this so?" I didn't find this well-documented. The first 'solution' is a bad idea as it will allow non-numerics in your data. Eventually Oracle will reject them, but you leave the conversion to the database. Integer external just means your numbers aren't stored in binary (O/S specific) form, but in whatever characterset is on the O/S. -- Sybrand Bakker, Senior Oracle DBA