A problem with a parameter name.(% causing problems)

Question

Hello,
I wrote a following sql query and it works fine except for parameters like drying%Total, drying%,. The reason is that in the name of parameters there is a wildcard used %. I know that I can use an escape command however I could not figure out how as I think that escape command only works with LIKE operator and not MAX. Could you please help me to resolve this problem?
Could you please tell me what should be amended in order an Oracle would treat % as a normal character and not a wildcard?
Thank you in advance for your help.
SELECT c.numlotpharma AS lotnum , c.numof ,
MAX(DECODE(RTRIM(a.parametercode),'DRYING',numvalue,0)) AS dryingdata,
MAX(DECODE(RTRIM(a.parametercode),'DRYING%Total',numvalue,0)) AS dryingpercentageTotal,
MAX(DECODE(RTRIM(a.parametercode),'DRYING%',numvalue,0)) AS dryingpercentage1
FROM prodaccount.manufacturingdata a
INNER JOIN
(SELECT MAX(inputindex) AS inputindex,
parametercode , mancode
FROM prodaccount.manufacturingdata
WHERE parametercode IN ('DRYING','DRYING%Total','DRYING%')
GROUP BY parametercode, mancode) b
ON a.inputindex = b.inputindex
AND a.parametercode = b.parametercode
AND a.mancode = b.mancode
INNER JOIN (SELECT Numlotpharma, numof , codeproduit
FROM prodaccount.batchlotdetails d
WHERE d.codeproduit = ('Tablets')) c
ON a.mancode = c.numof
GROUP BY c.numlotpharma, c.numof
ORDER BY lotnum

Answer 1

Hi,
user12866679 wrote:
Hello,
I will post some production data tomorrow as I am not at work today.Great!
If in decode % is treated as a part of parameter name then what about this part of my sql query
WHERE parametercode IN ('DRYING','DRYING%Total','DRYING%')
Is % treated as a wildcard?I think it is. Why do you think that?
'%' is a wildcard only in the right-operand of LIKE. The '%' characters in the expression above are not in the right-operand of a LIKE operation. (In fact, the expression doesn't include LIKE at all.) Therefore, the '%' signs above are not treated as wildcards.
Include in your sample data some examples where the condition above is not doing what you expect. Be sure to post the entire query, too; the part that causes the unexpected results might be something completely unconnected to the WHERE clause posted above.
Could you please tell me what to do so it would not be treated as a widlcard but as a integral part of a parameter name.You don't have to do anything.
Consider this example:
CREATE TABLE     table_x
(     x_id          NUMBER (4)
,     parametercode     VARCHAR2 (30)
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, parametercode) VALUES (0,  NULL);
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, parametercode) VALUES (1,  'DRYING');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, parametercode) VALUES (2,  'DRYING%Total');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, parametercode) VALUES (3,  'DRYING%');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, parametercode) VALUES (11, 'DRYINGFOO');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, parametercode) VALUES (12, 'DRYING%FOO');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, parametercode) VALUES (13, 'DRYINGFOOTotal');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, parametercode) VALUES (14, 'FOO');
SELECT     *
FROM     table_x
WHERE      parametercode IN ( 'DRYING'
                , 'DRYING%Total'
                , 'DRYING%'
;Output:
.     X_ID PARAMETERCODE
         1 DRYING
         2 DRYING%Total
         3 DRYING%Is this what you expect? If not, what is?