Comparing two records

Hi,

I wish to compare two records in a table and identify the fields which are different. The table will have 30-40 fields. It is always 2 rows which i wish to compare.

For eg.

table company_detail
fields : field1 , field2 , field3 .... field 30

This is the process i have in mind:

step1 :
pick record1 : select * from company_detail where co_name='ABC' and date_of_entry='01-jan-2001';

step2:
pick record2: select * from company_detail where co_name='ABC' and date_of_entry='01-feb-2001';

step3 :
identify / compare each field in rec1 and rec2 add to array if different
return array of field_names which are diff.

• pseudo code snippet -- i=0; if (rec1.field1 <> rec2.field1)
  {
  array[i]=rec1.field1 i=i+1; }

if (rec1.field2 <> rec2.field2)
{

array[i]=rec1.field2
i=i+1;
}
.....

return addtoarray;

• snippet ends --

however, i think this is a very long process and am looking for something more efficient.

Thanks in advance,

Vini Received on Sat Aug 25 2001 - 11:14:25 CEST