Re: & symbol in PL/SQL
- From: Wolfgang Breitling <breitliw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:20:26 -0600
Change the define to a symbol that is less frequently used. I do it all the
time - even have it in my login.sql - because I find the & to be far too
prevalent in data.
What I got cought on a few times, and what upsets me as
thoughtless/careless "programming" are install scripts from Oracle as well
as third party vendors which just assume that & is the define symbol, when
all it takes is a "set define '&'" at the beginning of the script to remove
the assumption.
Of course changing the define symbol will not change the fact that it is
still recognized within a comment.
At 11:01 AM 8/11/2004, you wrote:
>I don't write much PL/SQL as so it took many years before I ran into
>this one. Pardon me is this is well known. Tested in 7.3.4 \& 9iR2
>
>SQL> show define
>define "&" (hex 26)
>
>SQL> -- Comment line with & symbol in it
>
>[snip]
>Enter value for symbol: e
>old 5: -- comment line with a & symbol in it
>new 5: -- comment line with a e in it
>
>Why does the PL/SQL parser interpret the define symbol before comment
>delimeters? So one can't comment out a line of PL/SQL code containing
>a & without also using the escape? And worst of all, I can't use the
>& as shorthand for AND in my embedded comments. Open a TAR. Call out
>the National Guard.
Regards
Wolfgang Breitling
Centrex Consulting Corporation
www.centrexcc.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.
--
Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/
FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Other related posts:
