Retreive data from a table in a typical format

Question

Hi,
I am trying to retreive the telephone no.'s of all employees from a table. Where in the data entered into the table by users is in free style as in [phone] or 214-548-9874 or 587-632-ABCD or 1 985 657 4879 or 001 987-587-3654.
There could be any combinations of the format. There could be '-' or <space> or <( )> in between or alphanumeric values to enter the no.
My requirement is to fetch only the 10 digits of a number (or less if any) irrespective of the country code from the table.
Note:The users cannot be restricted to put their contact no. in a particular format while making a data entry. :(((
Pls let me know how can I accomplish this.
Thanks!
Edited by: 807404 on Nov 3, 2010 12:49 PM

Answer 1

Hi,
807404 wrote:
Hi,
The same thing is happening with the Translate function as well.
If the user has entered telephone number in less than 10 digits, it gives me null.
Edited by: 807404 on Nov 3, 2010 1:20 PMIt works for me.
Post some test data (CREATE TABLE and INSERT statemnts), the results you want from that data, and the query you're running.
For example, with this data:
CREATE TABLE  table_x
(       x_id          NUMBER
,     phone_num     VARCHAR2 (30)
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (0 , NULL);
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (1 , '[phone]');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (2 , ' 214-548-9874');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (3 , '587-632-ABCD');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (4 , '1 985 657 4879');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (5 , '001 987-587-3654');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (11, '12 ext. 34');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (12, '5-6-7');
INSERT INTO table_x (x_id, phone_num) VALUES (21, '(+++) +++-++++');
COMMIT;I expect (and actually get) these results:
`     X_ID PHONE_NUM                      STANDARDIZED
         0
         1 [phone]                  1111111111
         2  214-548-9874                  2145489874
         3 587-632-ABCD                   587632ABCD
         4 1 985 657 4879                 9856574879
         5 001 987-587-3654               9875873654
        11 12 ext. 34                        12ext34
        12 5-6-7                                 567
        21 (+++) +++-++++using this query:
SELECT       table_x.*
,       SUBSTR ( '         ' || TRANSLATE ( phone_num
                                      , 'A ()[].-_/+'
                                    , 'A'
                     , -10
                     )     AS standardized
FROM      table_x
ORDER BY  x_id
;The standardized column is NULL only for x_id=0 (where phone_num itself is NULL) and x_id=21 (where phone_num contains only designated bad characters).
For the rows with "numbers" containing fewer than 10 characters (x_id=11 and x_id=12), the results are padded with blanks. If you'd prefer just the non-blank characters, use LTRIM.