escaping '&' from application

[rmohan26]

A delphi application builds sql and sends it to Oracle through OLE-DB. While it builds, it may come across strings that have '&' like 'Bread & Circus'. How do I turn it off ? IN SQL*Plus, I could set define off. But from an application ... I have asked the developer to look into OLE-DB settings. But is there anything I can do at db user level. This app is one Windows NT Oracle 8.1.6. Thanks in advance.

[puneet]

Try putting it in quotes and doing set escape on on SQLPLUS

regards

[rmohan26]

Puneet, I am not using SQL*Plus. What you say works in SQLPLus but how do I do that from an application. The application selects some strings from a table and passes to a query like
select ... from ... where desc in (:v_desc).
if v_desc contains '&' then the application chokes. But one
cannot send set define off from an application. Is there any way I can turn it off at the database level ? Can I turn it off
for a database user as a default setting ?
Thanks

[rmohan26]

Sorry guys,
This was a red herring. Oracle does not care about amersands when it is sent through an application. it treats it
like any other character. Apprarently, the developer had this
sql stmt failing and he cut & paste on sqlplus and thought the
ampersand was giving problem. I just sat with him to re-create the error and the problem was something else in the application.