Thank Larry for the quote delimiter ... not the larry@oracle, but larry@Perl instead ... Raj -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rajendra dot Jamadagni at nospamespn dot com All Views expressed in this email are strictly personal. select standard_disclaimer from company_requirements; QOTD: Any clod can have facts, having an opinion is an art ! -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Robson, Peter Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 4:18 AM To: 'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' Subject: RE: Use of the quote / apostrophe in text fields Thanks for that, guys - Yes, been down that route, but it is not strictly germaine to the problem. Nevertheless it is a useful technique which I have applied widely. Things become interesting when you have up to a dozen quotes lined up on either side of your data value, which can happen when the data value is itself a quote (think about it...). No, the problem here is when a field arrives for processing in an update script, and is thus bounded by a quote at start and finish, but ALSO contains an embedded quote. The parser scans down the line of characters, encounters the second quote, assumes that is the end of the field - and all hell breaks loose. The answer (thank you Pete Sharman) is in 10g, where one can, so it seems, re-define the text string delimiter. I'm just glad someone in Oracle saw fit to address this particular point. peter edinburgh ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------------------