RE: Force implicit data conversion

  • From: "Mark W. Farnham" <mwf@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: "'stephen van linge'" <swvanlinge@xxxxxxxxx>, <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "'Oracle-L Freelists'" <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2015 14:05:53 -0500

Well I doubt you can. Consider this: IF the column’s type is X and the 
parameter’s type is Y, then it would mean Oracle would have to run a type 
conversion on each returned tuple (whether a filter or an index access). For 
zero rows it is moot, for one row it is about a tie, and for more than one row 
converting the parameter always wins. So I doubt Oracle would ever convert the 
column type without an explicit cast.

 

I’m thinking it might even be considered a performance bug if they did.

 

It could get more interesting if you were talking about type comparisons 
between disparate types of columns on a join. Then costing might involve 
whether or not there were hash and index opportunities and different numbers of 
candidates between the sources to be compared. But I’d be surprised if Oracle 
ever voluntarily (meaning implicitly) converted the column in a column versus 
parameter mismatch.

 

mwf

 

From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "swvanlinge@xxxxxxxxx" 
for DMARC)
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 1:38 PM
To: mwf@xxxxxxxx; dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; 'Oracle-L Freelists'
Subject: Re: Force implicit data conversion

 

No, I need it specifically to be an implicit conversion, aka something Oracle 
is doing on its' own.

 

Also, the trace file does not show this.  I just don't see a way to tell if the 
data types are changing in the where clause, and if they are, what's changing 
to what data type?  A way to see this should be sufficient.

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Stephen

 

  _____  

From: Mark W. Farnham <mwf@xxxxxxxx>
To: dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; 'Oracle-L Freelists' <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, March 2, 2015 10:29 AM
Subject: RE: Force implicit data conversion

 

do you mean, for example using the cast function?:

SQL> r

  1  select

  2  --+ gather_plan_statistics

  3  * from time_size

  4* where cast(timeuntrunc as date) > to_date('19700101','YYYYMMDD')

 

        ID DATETRUNC DATEUNTRU TIMETRUNC

---------- --------- --------- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIMEUNTRUNC

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

         1 09-MAY-11 09-MAY-11 09-MAY-11 12.00.00.000000 AM

09-MAY-11 09.58.59.000000 AM

 

         3 ~         09-MAY-11 ~

09-MAY-11 10.58.51.000000 AM

 

         1 19-DEC-12 19-DEC-12 19-DEC-12 12.00.00.000000 AM

19-DEC-12 01.33.47.000000 AM

 

         1 19-DEC-12 19-DEC-12 19-DEC-12 12.00.00.000000 AM

19-DEC-12 02.01.05.000000 AM

 

 

SQL> save q_cast_time

Created file q_cast_time.sql

SQL> @q_xplan

 

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

SQL_ID  9gqfbr6653j64, child number 0

-------------------------------------

select --+ gather_plan_statistics  * from time_size where

cast(timeuntrunc as date) > to_date('19700101','YYYYMMDD')

 

Plan hash value: 1526675273

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

| Id  | Operation         | Name      | Starts | E-Rows | Cost (%CPU)| A-Rows | 
  A-Time   | Buffers |

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT  |           |      1 |        |     3 (100)|      4 
|00:00:00.01 |       8 |

|*  1 |  TABLE ACCESS FULL| TIME_SIZE |      1 |      1 |     3   (0)|      4 
|00:00:00.01 |       8 |

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

 

   1 - filter(CAST(INTERNAL_FUNCTION("TIMEUNTRUNC") AS date)>TO_DATE(' 
1970-01-01 00:00:00',

              'syyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss'))

 

 

From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of stephen van linge (Redacted sender "swvanlinge@xxxxxxxxx" for DMARC)
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 1:09 PM
To: Oracle-L Freelists
Subject: Force implicit data conversion

 

Hi all,

 

This is an academic question.  Given a table A with column B (timestamp data 
type) and date parameter C, how can i force an implicit conversion within a 
select statement of B to date type?

 

I'm looking at this:

 

SELECT *
FROM A
WHERE B = C

 

and I'm not sure if B is being converted to date, or if C is being converted to 
timestamp...

 

Thanks,

 

Stephen

 

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