Question

I would like to know that if I can compare a value with a list of items in an decode function. Basically I want to know that if is it possible to make a decode statement’s ‘search‘ value a list. For example,

decode(task_id, (1,2,3), 3 * task_time) 

This piece of code won’t compile though. Is this the only option for this case then (without using case-when) or are there alternative ways of doing this?

decode(task_id, 1, 3 * task_time,
                2, 3 * task_time,
                3, 3 * task_time)

I am using Oracle 10gR2. Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

If a single list of values is sufficient, you can turn it into a CASE and IN clause:

case when task_id in (1, 2, 3) then 3 * task_time else null end