Searching for Particular Data

Question

What is the best way to search for a particular character, such as "*" that occurs more than once in a data stream in the same column. For example, if the column looks like this: * This is the comment 1. * This is comment 2. * This is comment 3.
How do I code this to search for the "*" in comment 3, and bypass the first 2 "*" ? Hope this makes sense.
Appreciate any ideas.

Answer 1

SQL> create table t (c varchar2(70));
Table created.
SQL> insert into t values ('1 * THIS IS COMMENT 1. * THIS IS COMMENT 2. * THIS IS COMMENT 3.');
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t values ('2 * THIS IS COMMENT 1.');
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t values ('3 * THIS IS COMMENT 1. * THIS IS COMMENT 2.');
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t values ('4 THIS RECORD HAS NO COMMENT.');
1 row created.
SQL> select c, substr(c,decode(instr(c,'*',-1),0,null,instr(c,'*',-1))) last_comment from t;
C                                                                      LAST_COMMENT
1 * THIS IS COMMENT 1. * THIS IS COMMENT 2. * THIS IS COMMENT 3.       * THIS IS COMMENT 3.
2 * THIS IS COMMENT 1.                                                 * THIS IS COMMENT 1.
3 * THIS IS COMMENT 1. * THIS IS COMMENT 2.                            * THIS IS COMMENT 2.
4 THIS RECORD HAS NO COMMENT.
SQL>INSTR documentation
http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10501_01/server.920/a96540/functions55a.htm#77600