I am not counting the spaces. I am working on a query--which is not part of the question. This is just a question on behavior. Why is oracle returning what it is returning when considering the below query examples, and only the below query examples. There is no higher purpose. Joel Patterson Database Administrator 904 727-2546 -----Original Message----- From: Mercadante, Thomas F (LABOR) [mailto:Thomas.Mercadante@xxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 7:36 AM To: Patterson, Joel; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: Air pocket char fields. Joel, I hate to ask the obvious question. Why are you counting the number of blank spaces? Seems like a questionable design to me. If you want a count where the column contains all spaces, why not just: Select count(*) from table where rtrim(column,' ') is null Just asking. Tom -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Joel.Patterson@xxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 3:51 PM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: FW: Air pocket char fields. I sent this to a couple DBAs, which warranted it to be posted for comment. Do you know why this is? Shouldn't a CHAR field size 15 return all the records where the field is 15 spaces when requested? Should it not return all rows if <> anything but 15 spaces? Oracle 11.2.0.1 Field is CHAR(15) NOT NULL Min(length(activity)), max(length(activity)) = 15 714196 + 3744244 = total rows in table. select count(*) SIXTEEN from lawcrp.mmdist where activity = ' '; SIXTEEN ---------- 3744244 select count(*) FIFTEEN from lawcrp.mmdist where activity = ' '; FIFTEEN ---------- 3744244 select count(*) FOURTEEN from lawcrp.mmdist where activity = ' '; FOURTEEN ---------- THIRTEEN, TWELVE, ELEVEN, ... THREE, TWO, 3744244 select count(*) ONE from lawcrp.mmdist where activity = ' '; ONE ---------- 3744244 select count(*) ZERO from lawcrp.mmdist where activity = ''; ZERO ---------- 0 select count(*) "<> ZERO" from lawcrp.mmdist where activity <> ''; <> ZERO ---------- 0 select count(*) "<> ONE" from lawcrp.mmdist where activity <> ' '; <> ONE ---------- 714196 select count(*) "<> TWO" from lawcrp.mmdist where activity <> ' '; <> TWO ---------- THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, ... THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN, 714196 select count(*) "<> FIFTEEN" from lawcrp.mmdist where activity <> ' '; <> FIFTEEN ---------- 714196 select count(*) "<> SIXTEEN" from lawcrp.mmdist where activity <> ' '; <> SIXTEEN ---------- 714196 Joel Patterson Database Administrator 904 727-2546 -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l