4

Using Conversion Functions and

Conditional Expressions
 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the

following:
• Describe various types of conversion functions that are
available in SQL
• Use the TO_CHAR, TO_NUMBER, and TO_DATE conversion
functions
• Apply conditional expressions in a SELECT statement

4-2
 Lesson Agenda

• Implicit and explicit data type conversion

• TO_CHAR, TO_DATE, TO_NUMBER functions
• Nesting functions
• General functions:
– NVL
– NVL2
– NULLIF
– COALESCE
• Conditional expressions:
– CASE
– DECODE

4-3
 Conversion Functions

Data type
conversion

Implicit data type Explicit data type

conversion conversion

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 Implicit Data Type Conversion

In expressions, the Oracle server can automatically convert the

following:
From To
VARCHAR2 or CHAR NUMBER
VARCHAR2 or CHAR DATE

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 Implicit Data Type Conversion

For expression evaluation, the Oracle server can automatically

convert the following:
From To
NUMBER VARCHAR2 or CHAR

DATE VARCHAR2 or CHAR

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 Explicit Data Type Conversion

TO_NUMBER TO_DATE

NUMBER CHARACTER DATE

TO_CHAR TO_CHAR

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 Explicit Data Type Conversion

TO_NUMBER TO_DATE

NUMBER CHARACTER DATE

TO_CHAR TO_CHAR

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 Lesson Agenda

• Implicit and explicit data type conversion

• TO_CHAR, TO_DATE, TO_NUMBER functions
• Nesting functions
• General functions:
– NVL
– NVL2
– NULLIF
– COALESCE
• Conditional expressions:
– CASE
– DECODE

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 Using the TO_CHAR Function with Dates

TO_CHAR(date, 'format_model')

The format model:

• Must be enclosed with single quotation marks
• Is case-sensitive
• Can include any valid date format element
• Has an fm element to remove padded blanks or suppress
leading zeros
• Is separated from the date value by a comma

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 Elements of the Date Format Model

Element Result
YYYY Full year in numbers
YEAR Year spelled out (in English)
MM Two-digit value for the month
MONTH Full name of the month

MON Three-letter abbreviation of the month

DY Three-letter abbreviation of the day of the week
DAY Full name of the day of the week
DD Numeric day of the month

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 Elements of the Date Format Model

• Time elements format the time portion of the date:

HH24:MI:SS AM 15:45:32 PM

• Add character strings by enclosing them with double

quotation marks:

DD "of" MONTH 12 of OCTOBER

• Number suffixes spell out numbers:

ddspth fourteenth

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 Using the TO_CHAR Function with Dates

SELECT last_name,
TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'fmDD Month YYYY')
AS HIREDATE
FROM employees;

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 Using the TO_CHAR Function with Numbers

TO_CHAR(number, 'format_model')
These are some of the format elements that you can use with
the TO_CHAR function to display a number value as a character:

Element Result
9 Represents a number
0 Forces a zero to be displayed
$ Places a floating dollar sign
L Uses the floating local currency symbol
. Prints a decimal point
, Prints a comma as a thousands indicator

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 Using the TO_CHAR Function with Numbers

SELECT TO_CHAR(salary, '$99,999.00') SALARY

FROM employees
WHERE last_name = 'Ernst';

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 Using the TO_NUMBER and TO_DATE Functions

• Convert a character string to a number format using the

TO_NUMBER function:

TO_NUMBER(char[, 'format_model'])

• Convert a character string to a date format using the

TO_DATE function:
TO_DATE(char[, 'format_model'])

• These functions have an fx modifier. This modifier specifies

the exact match for the character argument and date format
model of a TO_DATE function.

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 Using the TO_CHAR and TO_DATE Function
with RR Date Format
To find employees hired before 1990, use the RR date format,
which produces the same results whether the command is run
in 1999 or now:

SELECT last_name, TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'DD-Mon-YYYY')

FROM employees
WHERE hire_date < TO_DATE('01-Jan-90','DD-Mon-RR');

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 Lesson Agenda

• Implicit and explicit data type conversion

• TO_CHAR, TO_DATE, TO_NUMBER functions
• Nesting functions
• General functions:
– NVL
– NVL2
– NULLIF
– COALESCE
• Conditional expressions:
– CASE
– DECODE

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 Nesting Functions

• Single-row functions can be nested to any level.

• Nested functions are evaluated from the deepest level to the
least deep level.

F3(F2(F1(col,arg1),arg2),arg3)

Step 1 = Result 1
Step 2 = Result 2
Step 3 = Result 3

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 Nesting Functions

SELECT last_name,
UPPER(CONCAT(SUBSTR (LAST_NAME, 1, 8), '_US'))
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 60;

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 Lesson Agenda

• Implicit and explicit data type conversion

• TO_CHAR, TO_DATE, TO_NUMBER functions
• Nesting functions
• General functions:
– NVL
– NVL2
– NULLIF
– COALESCE
• Conditional expressions:
– CASE
– DECODE

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 General Functions

The following functions work with any data type and pertain to
using nulls:
• NVL (expr1, expr2)
• NVL2 (expr1, expr2, expr3)
• NULLIF (expr1, expr2)
• COALESCE (expr1, expr2, ..., exprn)

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 NVL Function

Converts a null value to an actual value:

• Data types that can be used are date, character, and
number.
• Data types must match:
– NVL(commission_pct,0)
– NVL(hire_date,'01-JAN-97')
– NVL(job_id,'No Job Yet')

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 Using the NVL Function

1
SELECT last_name, salary, NVL(commission_pct, 0),
(salary*12) + (salary*12*NVL(commission_pct, 0)) AN_SAL 2
FROM employees;

…
1 2

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 Using the NVL2 Function

SELECT last_name, salary, commission_pct, 1

NVL2(commission_pct,
'SAL+COMM', 'SAL') income 2
FROM employees WHERE department_id IN (50, 80);

1 2

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 Using the NULLIF Function

1
SELECT first_name, LENGTH(first_name) "expr1",
last_name, LENGTH(last_name) "expr2", 2
NULLIF(LENGTH(first_name), LENGTH(last_name)) result 3
FROM employees;

1 2 3

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 Using the COALESCE Function

• The advantage of the COALESCE function over the NVL

function is that the COALESCE function can take multiple
alternate values.
• If the first expression is not null, the COALESCE function
returns that expression; otherwise, it does a COALESCE of
the remaining expressions.

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 Using the COALESCE Function

SELECT last_name, employee_id,

COALESCE(TO_CHAR(commission_pct),TO_CHAR(manager_id),
'No commission and no manager')
FROM employees;

…
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 Lesson Agenda

• Implicit and explicit data type conversion

• TO_CHAR, TO_DATE, TO_NUMBER functions
• Nesting functions
• General functions:
– NVL
– NVL2
– NULLIF
– COALESCE
• Conditional expressions:
– CASE
– DECODE

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 Conditional Expressions

• Provide the use of the IF-THEN-ELSE logic within a SQL

statement
• Use two methods:
– CASE expression
– DECODE function

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 CASE Expression

Facilitates conditional inquiries by doing the work of an

IF-THEN-ELSE statement:

CASE expr WHEN comparison_expr1 THEN return_expr1

[WHEN comparison_expr2 THEN return_expr2
WHEN comparison_exprn THEN return_exprn
ELSE else_expr]
END

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 Using the CASE Expression

Facilitates conditional inquiries by doing the work of an

IF-THEN-ELSE statement:
SELECT last_name, job_id, salary,
CASE job_id WHEN 'IT_PROG' THEN 1.10*salary
WHEN 'ST_CLERK' THEN 1.15*salary
WHEN 'SA_REP' THEN 1.20*salary
ELSE salary END "REVISED_SALARY"
FROM employees;

…
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 DECODE Function

Facilitates conditional inquiries by doing the work of a CASE

expression or an IF-THEN-ELSE statement:

DECODE(col|expression, search1, result1

[, search2, result2,...,]
[, default])

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 Using the DECODE Function

SELECT last_name, job_id, salary,

DECODE(job_id, 'IT_PROG', 1.10*salary,
'ST_CLERK', 1.15*salary,
'SA_REP', 1.20*salary,
salary)
REVISED_SALARY
FROM employees;

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 Using the DECODE Function

Display the applicable tax rate for each employee in

department 80:
SELECT last_name, salary,
DECODE (TRUNC(salary/2000, 0),
0, 0.00,
1, 0.09,
2, 0.20,
3, 0.30,
4, 0.40,
5, 0.42,
6, 0.44,
0.45) TAX_RATE
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 80;

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 Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Alter date formats for display using functions
• Convert column data types using functions
• Use NVL functions
• Use IF-THEN-ELSE logic and other conditional expressions
in a SELECT statement

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 Practice 4: Overview

This practice covers the following topics:

• Creating queries that use TO_CHAR, TO_DATE, and other
DATE functions
• Creating queries that use conditional expressions such as
DECODE and CASE

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