what you are asking to print is a string, not a number. convert to string, and pad with lpad, massage with substr() some logic is involved as you probably only want the 0 for values < 1 Jared On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 9:37 AM, amonte <ax.mount@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > oops > I forgot to say that this is called inside PL/SQL and invoked from .net so > sqlplus specifica such as column xxx cannot be used > > for example the pl/sql is like > > declare > l_var number; > begin > l_var := 1/2; > dbms_output.put_line(l_var); > end; > / > > the returned value is passed to .net and this writes it to an excel cell, > since pl/sql returns .5 when this is written to excel as number it fails! > > 2011/10/17 David Fitzjarrell <oratune@xxxxxxxxx> > > > SQL> column result format 999990.90 > > SQL> > > SQL> select 1/2 result from dual; > > RESULT > > ---------- > > 0.50 > > SQL> > > > > David Fitzjarrell > > > > > > *From:* amonte <ax.mount@xxxxxxxxx> > > *To:* Oracle-L Group <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > > *Sent:* Monday, October 17, 2011 9:12 AM > > > > *Subject:* padding zero before decimal if result is less than 1 > > > > Hi > > In sqlplus when we divide if the result is less than 1, for example 0.5 > we > > see this: > > > > SQL> select 1 /2 from dual; > > > > 1/2 > > ---------- > > .5 > > > > Is it possible to get 0.5 without using to_char()? > > > > I am fine with .5 but since this has to be written to an xls excel doesnt > > like it! > > > > > > Thank you > > > > > > -- > > //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l > > > -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l