Question

I have an arraylist of Strings and a string which is the csv format of this list.
I want to write an sql query which refines the result on this list basis.
So, I want something like —

select * from table_name where name in (`ArrayList<String> values` or `csv format string`).

I believe that something like procedure, functions etc. can be made to solve the purpose.
I just want to know how can i achieve this.
Thanks

Answer 1

It’s unclear what exactly you mean by ArrayList; are you talking about a C#/Java/whatever type here (since Oracle PL/SQL doesn’t have Generics)?

Anyway, here is one way to convert a comma-separated list in PL/SQL into a PL/SQL table und use it for an IN search:

(see AskTom)

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE STRINGLISTT as table of varchar2(4000);

create or replace function in_list(p_string    in varchar2,
                       p_delimiter in varchar2) return StringListT is
        l_string long default p_string || p_delimiter;
        l_data   StringListT := StringListT();
        n        number;
      begin
        loop
          exit when l_string is null;
          n := instr(l_string,
                     p_delimiter);
          l_data.extend;
          l_data(l_data.count) := ltrim(rtrim(substr(l_string,
                                                     1,
                                                     n - 1)));
          l_string := substr(l_string,
                             n + 1);
        end loop;      
        return l_data;      
      end;

Usage:

  select * from my_tab t where t.name in 
   (select * from table(in_list('A,B', ',')));