Decode function--urgent

Question

hai all,
this is the query from robinson .....
I am trying to use decode function as below in PL/SQl..
DECODE(column1,a1,1,a2,2,a3,3,......a150,150,null)
i got a error as
---unhandled exception---
If this decode function is restricted to 120 values i get the
answer.
so i would like to know whether there is any restriction for the
number of arguments to be passed to the decode function.
I will be glad and grateful to receive a answer...for this query.
thanks in advance...
robinson

Answer 1

I'm not sure what is the limit for the decode function
arguments, but it certainly seems that you've reached it.
So, I'd recommend that you write a stored function that you will
call in your select. It should be like the following:
create
function f_decode (p in your_data_type) return your_ret_type
is
begin
if p=expr1 then
return value1;
elsif p=expr2 then
return value2;
elsif p=exprn then
return exprn;
else
return def_value;
end if;
Or, another way to handle it, even more graciously when the
number of possible values will vary pretty often may be to have
a table that you would join.
That's what I do when a have to deal with more than 10-20 values.
end;