Converting HH24:MI:SS to seconds Issue

Question

Hallo Everyone,
I’m fairly new (read: about 2 days) to the whole PL/SQL world and I’ve run into a little problem with one of my projects. I’ve googled and looked around the forums and tried to apply what I have picked up but so far without much success.
The general situation is as follows:
I am creating a .bat file which will take data from a comma separated file and “upload” the data into a table of my choosing. However, in the file I’m trying to “upload”, one of the columns contains a time value of the type HH24:MI:SS (for example: 0:05:32). The column sequence in the file matches that of my table and the .bat file.
My standalone table for testing this conversion looks like this:
Table: Conversion_Test
Column Name          Data Type     
AUTO_ID          NUMBER (12)     
TIME               NUMBER (12)     
WORKING          VARCHAR2 (32 Byte)
UPLOAD_DATE      DATE
The columns AUTO_ID and UPLOAD_DATE are filled by triggers which have been tried, tested and found to be working just fine. My test file contains 1 row of raw data (no headers or other information is present).
I have managed to convert the HH24:MI:SS into seconds through the SQL*Plus interface with the following query:
SELECT
sysdate, to_number(substr('00:05:32',1,2)*3600 + substr('00:05:32',4,2)*60 + substr('00:05:32',7,2))
from dual
Which returns the correct result:
SYSDATE
TO_NUMBER(SUBSTR('00:05:32',1,2)*3600+SUBSTR('00:05:32',4,2)*60+SUBSTR('00:05:32
23-10-08
332
Potential Relevant Content off .bat file (not all of it):
LOAD DATA                          
INFILE "dat\%date%.dat"                          
Append                                        
INTO TABLE Conversion_Test                          
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ';'                                        
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*
Working
* XXXXXXXX = Location of relevant statement.
I have tried duplicating the results from my sysdate query with the following statements:
1. Time "to_number(substr('Time',1,2))*3600" + "to_number(substr('Time',4,2))*60" + "to_number(substr('Time',7,2))",
This generates the following error message:
SQL*Loader-350: Syntaxiserror in row 7.
"," of ")" expected, "+" found.
Time "to_number(substr('Time',1,2))*3600" + "to_number(substr('Time' ^
2. Time “to_number(substr('Time',1,2))*3600 + to_number(substr('Time',4,2))*60 + to_number(substr('Time',7,2))",
3. Time "to_number(substr('Time',1,2))*3600 + (substr('Time',4,2))*60 + (substr('Time',7,2))",
These generate the following error message:
Record 1: denied – error in table CONVERSION_TEST, Column TIME.
ORA-01722: invalid number
4. Time "to_number(substr('Time',1,2))*3600 + (substr('Time',4,2))*60 + (substr('Time',7,2)) from dual",
This generates the following error message:
Record 1: denied – error in table CONVERSION_TEST, Column TIME.
ORA-00917: missing comma
Question: What I want to do is convert this HH24:MI:SS “format” into seconds and then put them into a numbers column in my table by running the .bat file.
I hope I have provided enough information to give you a good insight into the problem and potential solutions.
With regards,
Luhaine
Edited by: user10465140 on 23-okt-2008 7:28
Edited by: user10465140 on 23-okt-2008 7:30
Edited by: user10465140 on 23-okt-2008 7:30
Edited by: user10465140 on 23-okt-2008 7:33 - Clearafication and Clean up.

Answer 1

This keep getting weirder and weirder.
The reason why I am using a .bat file is because the end user of this little upload procedure is going to be someone who's SQL capabilities are that of a monkey (at best). So it needs to be relativly simple (think basic console window where one has to put in his password before uploading starts).
In the .bat file I basicly echo every line to the control file and establish a connection with username to the database where the target table is located. See below for snippets from the .bat file. Inspired with new hope that you managed to pull it off I went forth and replicated your table and query. Alas to no avail.
I use the same source data.
.dat file:
0:05:32
23:43:23
22:43:23
10:00:00
11:00:00
12:00:00
7:20:00 I use basicly (don't see why or how the difference could create this problem) the same ctl file:
echo LOAD DATA                                                          >>loaddata.ctl
echo    INFILE "dat\%date%.dat"                                         >>loaddata.ctl
echo      Append                                         >>loaddata.ctl
echo    INTO TABLE Conversion_Test                                       >>loaddata.ctl
echo    FIELDS TERMINATED BY ';' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"' TRAILING NULLCOLS           >>loaddata.ctl
echo    (                                           >>loaddata.ctl
echo ACTUAL                                         >>loaddata.ctl
echo ,secs "to_number(to_char(to_date(:ACTUAL, 'HH24:MI:SS'), 'SSSSS'))"               >>loaddata.ctl     
echo    )                                                           >>loaddata.ctl
echo off
cls
echo  Enter your database password:
sqlldr userid=xxxx@yyyy control=loaddata.ctl log=log\Data_Extract_Nummer_Periode_%date%.log
echo on
{code}
The same table build.
{code}
Naam                                Null?         Type
ACTUAL                                             VARCHAR2(10)
SECS                                                  NUMBER
{code}
This is what I get :(
{code}
ACTUAL    SECS
      0           0
      2        7200
      2        7200
      1        3600
      1        3600
      1        3600
      7      25200
{code}
So I'm clueless as to why you would get the proper results and I'm stuck with these weird ones.
I've been on track to another possible sollution to the issue by using the replace and ldap function to remove the "":" from the time, supplement it to a 6 digit number, then use positions to calculate the total amount of seconds. I've only begun exploring this one a while ago.
PS. How do you format your tables so nicely without them going haywire with the ultra amoutn of breaks additions that rich text mode seems to do.
Edit:
I've just spotted something. The line:
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ';' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"' TRAILING NULLCOLS
Is not getting echo'd to the control file. Could this be causing the problem?