I want to remove bind variables in my data like & and many

Question

I have a field that holds description of a code and this is having bind variables (special characters). I need to remove them and replace with no value.
I was trying with following sql and the dialog box (Enter Substitution Variable)is opening when I tried to execute the sql.
select regexp_replace('B VOC AC & HEATING (*[[:punct:]])', '') from dual;
please provide me the SQL how to do this
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Hi,
It looks like your question is about Substitution Variables, that typically look like &start_date or &1.  Bind Variables are completely different.
By default, SQL*Plus, and some other front ends, expect that & will be followed by a substitution variable name.  If you're not using substitution variables, and you want to treat & as a normal character, then use Pablolee's suggestion.  SET DEFINE OFF will make SQL*Plus treat & as a normal character until you end the SQL*Plus session, or you explicitly cancel it by saying SET DEFINE ON.
By the way, did you mean to call REGEXP_REPLACE with 2 arguments, like you posted
select regexp_replace('B VOC AC & HEATING (*[[:punct:]])', '') from dual;
or with 3 arguments, something like this
select  regexp_replace ( 'B VOC AC & HEATING'
                       , '(*[[:punct:]])'    -- Round parentheses, '(' and ')', are not doing anything in this case
                       , ''                  -- NULL might be clearer
from    dual;
?  Also, '*' in a regular expression p
attern, means "the last item can occur 0 or more times".  In your code, there isn't any "last item" before the '*',  What are you trying to do?  Post some sample data (CREATE TABLE and INSERT statements) for a few different sample cases, and the results you want from that sample data.
See the forum FAQ: https://forums.oracle.com/message/9362002