> Can instr() be used to search in reverse? Yes it can, SQL> select substr('Eugene Pipko', instr('Eugene Pipko', ' ', -1)+1) last_name 2 from dual; LAST_NAME--------------------------------Pipko On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 1:58 PM, Eugene Pipko <eugene.pipko@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: -- Alex Fatkulin, http://afatkulin.blogspot.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexfatkulin -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l