check special characters

Hi everyone,

I need to write a function which will checK FOR SPECIAL CHARACTERS(LIKE !@#$%^) A COLUMN BEFORE MOVING IT TO THE MAIN TABLES. It should accept numeric and alpha
characters.

Now the column it has to check is a varchar2 column and I can't pass it directly to to_char function(which I found will not accept special characters).

Is there any other way to check for special characters.

Thanx in advance,

Kavita

You will probaby end up using a PL/SQL loop with the functions INSTR http://technet.oracle.com/docs/produ...tion.htm#77600 and SUBSTR http://technet.oracle.com/docs/produ...tion.htm#87096

Probably even more appropriate function to use in this case would be TRANSLATE().

Or you could just catch the exception that is thrown on attempting the assignment.

HTH

David.