what about giving this a try, since those characters are the extended ASCII characters normally found in foreign languages SQL> select chr(191) from dual; C - ¿ SQL> -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Steiner, Randy Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 7:47 AM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: special characters I have a field with an upside down question mark chr(191). When we do a select on it, the character shows up as a normal question mark chr(63). I found this out by doing SELECT fld1 ascii(fld1) and it showed: ? 191 Since the upside down character is what is really in the database, how can I show it when I do a query. Thanks Randy ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------------------