Is there an easy way to find out the type of an input parameter

Question

Hi guys, I'm writing a function that receives a large string and I have to split it in several smaller fields, some string, some date and some numeric. Is there a function similar to "isnumeric" or "isdate" that will help me check on the type of data being entered? Tks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi,
>>Is there a function similar to "isnumeric" or "isdate" that will help me check on the type of data being entered?
Humm, like Delphi's functions? ;-) I think that 3360's solution is very interesting. By the way, check this below:
LEGATTI@ORACLE10> create or replace function is_numeric (param_in varchar2) return boolean is
  2  n  number;
  3  begin
  4    n := to_number(param_in);
  5    return true;
  6  exception
  7    when others then return false;
  8  end is_numeric;
  9  /
Function created.
LEGATTI@ORACLE10> create or replace function is_date (param_in varchar2) return boolean is
  2  d  date;
  3  begin
  4    d := to_date(param_in);
  5    return true;
  6  exception
  7    when others then return false;
  8  end is_date;
  9  /
Function created.
LEGATTI@ORACLE10> set serveroutput on
LEGATTI@ORACLE10> declare
  2   x boolean;
  3  begin
  4    if is_numeric('anything') then
  5      dbms_output.put_line('TRUE');
  6    else
  7      dbms_output.put_line('FALSE');
  8    end if;
  9  end;
10  /
FALSE
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
LEGATTI@ORACLE10> declare
  2   x boolean;
  3  begin
  4    if is_date(sysdate) then
  5      dbms_output.put_line('TRUE');
  6    else
  7      dbms_output.put_line('FALSE');
  8    end if;
  9  end;
10  /
TRUE
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.In addition, take a look at this [url http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=1238025&#1238025]thread
Cheers
Legatti