How to find Missing Numbers, simplest way

Question

Hi All,
Table 1
Invoice_books_issues
Columns are Transaction_date,serail_no_start,serial_no_end.
Ex Data is :
1/1/2005...........1000.............2000
2/2/2005...........4500.............5500
My Invoice_table is
Inv_no
1908
1005
4502
4589
5509......on and on...
so i need to get the missing nos out of the issues. like
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004 ... note here 1005 alrady been used.
1006
... on and on.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

something like this :
1. create view holding surrogate numbers:
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW NUM_VIEW
(NUM)
AS
SELECT thous.x+huns.x+tens.x+ones.x num FROM
(SELECT 0 x FROM dual
UNION SELECT 1 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 2 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 3 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 4 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 5 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 6 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 7 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 8 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 9 FROM dual) ones,
(SELECT 0 x FROM dual
UNION SELECT 10 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 20 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 30 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 40 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 50 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 60 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 70 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 80 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 90 FROM dual) tens,
(SELECT 0 x FROM dual
UNION SELECT 100 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 200 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 300 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 400 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 500 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 600 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 700 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 800 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 900 FROM dual) huns,
(SELECT 0 x FROM dual
UNION SELECT 1000 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 2000 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 3000 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 4000 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 5000 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 6000 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 7000 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 8000 FROM dual
UNION SELECT 9000 FROM dual) thous
this one holds numbers up to 9999 - should be up to the maximum value for your invoice number.
2.
CREATE TABLE INVOICE
INV_NO NUMBER(5)
Insert into invoice
(INV_NO)
Values
(1000);
Insert into invoice
(INV_NO)
Values
(4501);
Insert into invoice
(INV_NO)
Values
(4505);
COMMIT;
3.
CREATE TABLE INVOICE_BOOKS_ISSUES
SERIAL_NO_START NUMBER,
SERIAL_NO_END NUMBER
Insert into INVOICE_BOOKS_ISSUES
(SERIAL_NO_START, SERIAL_NO_END)
Values
(1000, 1006);
Insert into INVOICE_BOOKS_ISSUES
(SERIAL_NO_START, SERIAL_NO_END)
Values
(4500, 4507);
COMMIT;
4.
SQL> select * from invoice;
INV_NO
4501
1000
1005
4505
SQL> select * from Invoice_books_issues;
SERIAL_NO_START SERIAL_NO_END
1000 1006
4500 4507
SQL>
select num
from num_view nv
where exists
(select serial_no_start, serial_no_end from Invoice_books_issues ibi
where nv.num >= ibi.SERIAL_NO_START and nv.num <= ibi.SERIAL_NO_END)
and
not exists (select inv_no from invoice inv where inv.INV_NO = nv.num)
NUM
1001
1002
1003
1004
1006
4500
4502
4503
4504
4506
4507
11 rows selected.
SQL>
hope this helped.
Mike