Oracle 9.2.0.1 is asserting that 1=2 and also 1=3! Help!?

Question

Guys, take a look at this example:
create table ccb as select 'Edinburgh 1' as client_branch, '90000445' as client_number from dual;
insert into ccb values('Edinburgh 1',90000445);
insert into ccb values('Edinburgh 2',90000452);
insert into ccb values('Edinburgh 3',90000480);
insert into ccb values('Edinburgh 4',90000592);
insert into ccb values('Edinburgh 5',90000621);
select
from
  select
    merchant_number,
    pri,
    count(case when pri = 1 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_one,
    count(case when pri = 2 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_two,
    count(case when pri = 3 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_three,
    case when pri = 1 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=1?' end as huh1,
    case when pri = 2 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=2?' end as huh2,
    case when pri = 3 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=3?' end as huh3,
    case when decode(pri, 1, 'one', 2, 'two', 3, 'three') = 'two' then 'huh?' end
  from
    select
      case
        when lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' and ccb.client_number = '90000480' then 1
        when ccb.client_number = '90000480' then 2
        when lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' then 3
      end as Pri,
      ccb.client_number as Merchant_Number
    from
      ccb
    where
      (lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' or ccb.client_number = '90000480')
);I look up stores and their ID, the most exact match is from name plus ID, then ID alone, then name alone, so this is how the priority is assigned with 1 being the highest and 3 being the lowest
I was then also asked if I could provide a count of all the times a priority 2 or priority 3 comes up. No problem, i'll just count() over() the whole result set, and use a case when to return me something countable when the pri = (what i want) and null otherwise
The values for 2 and 3 priority were all 1 too high. I wrote some test code that just does a case when, and provides a visual compare.
Can someone please tell me why, on the row where pri = 1, the following code returns a true:
CASE WHEN pri = 2 THEN (print a message)
Pri does not equal 2. Pri NEVER equals two in this example. Why does oracle say that pri = 2 is true?
I changed it to use BETWEEN instead of =, now the problem with 2 has gone, but the problem with 3 remains! I'm worried that the database that runs our enterprise cannot compare numbers properly!
select
    merchant_number,
    pri,
    count(case when pri = 1 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_one,
    count(case when pri = 2 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_two,
    count(case when pri = 3 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_three,
    case when pri = 1 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=1?' end as huh1,
    case when pri = 2 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=2?' end as huh2,
    case when pri = 3 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=3?' end as huh3,
    case when pri between 0.9 and 1.1 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri in range 0.9 - 1.1?' end as huh1,
    case when pri between 1.9 and 2.1 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks in range 1.9 - 2.1?' end as huh2,
    case when pri between 2.9 and 3.1 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks in range 2.9 - 3.1?' end as huh3,
    case when decode(pri, 1, 'one', 2, 'two', 3, 'three') = 'two' then 'huh?' end
  from
    select
      case
        when lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' and ccb.client_number = '90000480' then 1
        when ccb.client_number = '90000480' then 2
        when lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' then 3
      end as Pri,
      ccb.client_number as Merchant_Number
    from
      ccb
    where
      (lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' or ccb.client_number = '90000480')
  )here is the result:
MERCHANT_NUMBER  PRICOUNT_PRI_ONE  COUNT_PRI_TWO  COUNT_PRI_THREE  HUH1                               HUH2                               HUH3                               HUH1                                                   HUH2 HUH3                                       
90000445         3  1              1              5                                                                                      pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?                                                                 pri=3 but oracle thinks in range 2.9 - 3.1?
90000452         3  1              1              5                                                                                      pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?                                                                 pri=3 but oracle thinks in range 2.9 - 3.1?
90000480         1  1              1              5                pri=1 but oracle thinks pri=1?     pri=1 but oracle thinks pri=2?     pri=1 but oracle thinks pri=3?     pri=1 but oracle thinks pri in range 0.9 - 1.1?             pri=1 but oracle thinks in range 2.9 - 3.1?
90000592         3  1              1              5                                                                                      pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?                                                                 pri=3 but oracle thinks in range 2.9 - 3.1?
90000621         3  1              1              5                                                                                      pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?                                                                 pri=3 but oracle thinks in range 2.9 - 3.1? Edited by: charred on Sep 3, 2008 5:27 AM
Edited by: charred on Sep 3, 2008 5:43 AM

Answer 1

Can't understand your problem.
This is the output I get
SQL> set linesize 2000
SQL> r
  1  select
  2    *
  3  from
  4  (
  5    select
  6      merchant_number,
  7      pri,
  8      count(case when pri = 1 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_one,
  9      count(case when pri = 2 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_two,
10      count(case when pri = 3 then 1 end) over() as count_pri_three,
11      case when pri = 1 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=1?' end as huh1,
12      case when pri = 2 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=2?' end as huh2,
13      case when pri = 3 then 'pri='||pri||' but oracle thinks pri=3?' end as huh3,
14      case when decode(pri, 1, 'one', 2, 'two', 3, 'three') = 'two' then 'huh?' end
15    from
16    (
17      select
18        case
19          when lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' and ccb.client_number = '90000480' then 1
20          when ccb.client_number = '90000480' then 2
21          when lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' then 3
22        end as Pri,
23        ccb.client_number as Merchant_Number
24       from ccb
25      where
26        (lower(ccb.client_branch) like '%edinburgh%' or ccb.client_number = '90000480')
27    )
28* )
MERCHANT        PRI COUNT_PRI_ONE COUNT_PRI_TWO COUNT_PRI_THREE HUH1                                                                  HUH2                                                                  HUH3                                                                  CASE
90000445          3             1             0               5                                                                                                                                             pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?
90000445          3             1             0               5                                                                                                                                             pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?
90000452          3             1             0               5                                                                                                                                             pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?
90000480          1             1             0               5 pri=1 but oracle thinks pri=1?
90000592          3             1             0               5                                                                                                                                             pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?
90000621          3             1             0               5                                                                                                                                             pri=3 but oracle thinks pri=3?
6 rows selected.what is wrong with it?