Variable does not work for sqlplus (command line)

Question

Here is an select:
variable x number;
variable y number;
variable a number;
define x = 2000;
define y = 2*1000;
define a = &x+&y;
select ener from adding where ener = &a;
When I execute it under SQL*Plus Worksheet (client installed on my PC) then I get output:
ENER
4000
1 row selected
When I execute this same under command line sqlplus (under unix shell) then I get output
old 1: select ener from adding where ener = &a
new 1: select ener from adding where ener = 2000+2*1000
no rows selected
What is worng ?

Answer 1

Nothing.
Sqlplus is correct and sql worksheet is buggy.
Define works with strings only. You cannot use it to calculate an expression.
Apparently sql worksheet did calculate the expression, and sqlplus didn't, submitting it as a string.
This is the expected behavior.
This behavior can likely vary by version, so thank you for not providing version info.
Will anything awful happen when you do, or is this just the lazyness epidemia in this forum?
Sybrand Bakker
Senior Oracle DBA
Experts: those who did read documentation.