Question

I would like to convert a string containing dates in SQL select from Oracle 11g database.

Original string (CLOB) example:

"1.12.2011 - event 1
 2.2.2012 - event 2
 13.3.2012 - event 44"

Desired output:

"20111201 - event 1
 20120202 - event 2
 20120313 - event 44"

Is there a better (faster) way than using 4 separate replacements?

regexp_replace(regexp_replace(regexp_replace(regexp_replace(my_string,
'(\d\d)\.(\d\d)\.(20\d\d)', '\3\2\1'),
'(\d\d)\.(\d)\.(20\d\d)', '\30\2\1'),
'(\d)\.(\d\d)\.(20\d\d)', '\3\20\1'),
'(\d)\.(\d)\.(20\d\d)', '\30\20\1')

Answer 1

there are no better options (both correct and readable) with better performance – or if there are, no one cares..