Question

I want to generate composite sequences in the following format:

<Alphabet><2 digit numeric code>

Each alphabet series will have numeric values ranging from 00 to 99.

The initial value will be A00, the subsequent values will be A01, A02 and so on. Upon reaching A99, the next sequence should carry-on to B00. When the “B” series is exhausted, it will move over to the C-series (i.e. C00) and so on. The sequence will continue until it reaches Z99 – at which point it will reset back to A00.

How can this be done in SQL (or PL/SQL)?

Answer 1

Personally I would store just a NUMBER and then calculate the “composite sequence” on the fly with something like:

select
chr(ascii('A') + ((number_sequence div 100) mod 26)) || to_char(number_sequence mod 100) composite_sequence,
...
from mytable

26 assuming the English alphabet, modify for your desired alphabet