Is the value numeric?

Question

Hi All,
I am on v11.2.0.3
Its the same old question. I want to check if a given value is a valid numeric value or not? Is there a function for that in SQL?
I know I can write
declare
begin
   v1 := TO_NUMBER ( v2 ) ;
exception
when others then
  < if SQLCODE = -6502 > Its not numeric value
end;I need to use this logic for millions of records I process every night, don't want to write my own code for the same (even if we have native compilation).
Please let me know if we have a built-in function.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi,
rahulras wrote:
Hi All,
I am on v11.2.0.3
Its the same old question.and the same old answer. If you need to detect all kinds of numbers, including signs, decimal points and scientific notation, you can write a function, much like the PL/SQL you posted, or use a regular expression:
REGEXP_LIKE ( str
         , '^'          ||
           '[+-]?'          || -- optional sign
           '('          || -- 1 of the following:
             '(\d+(\.\d*)?)'     || --         1 or more digits, optionally followed by a decimal point and 0 or more digits
           '|'          || -- or
             '(\.\d+)'     || --     a decimal point, followed by 1 or more digits
           ')'          ||
           '([Ee][+-]?\d+)?'     || -- (optional) E, optional sign, then 1 or more digits
           '$'
         )If you're only interested in certain types of numbers, there might be simpler and faster ways. Unsigned integers is one of the simplest:
LTRIM ( str
      , '0123456789'
      )          IS NULL