Adar, How about: column_name position(xx:xx) char "decode(:column_name,'00000000', '19000101',:column_name)", Tom -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Yechiel Adar Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 8:33 AM To: ORACLE-L Subject: sql loader help Hello I have date data in a record from txt file. When the field in the record contain '00000000' I want to replace it with '19000101'. How can I convince sql loader to do this? TIA -- Adar Yechiel Rechovot, Israel -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l