Searching addresses

Question

Hi,
I have an ADDRESS table which stores components of an address e.g. level, building, street name, street type,...etc. Many of the fields are optional. I was wondering what's the best way to find out if a given address is in the table. I was thinking of creating a search column on the table which I could use to find addresses that were a close match to the given address and then do a full match on the records found.
The values in the search column would be something like upper( Spaces removed( street number|| substr(street name,1,5)||postcode)))
Also is this very good SQL. if not what's the alternative? I realise that functions on columns are not great but I'm not sure of any other way to do it.
Select Address_Id
From Address
Where nvl(street_name,' ') = nvl(l_street_name,' ')
and nvl(street_number,' ') = nvl(l_street_number,' ')
and nvl(street_Type,' ') = nvl(l_street_Type,' ')
and nvl(building,' ') = nvl(l_building,' ')
and suburb = l_suburb
where variables are those prefixed with l_
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi again,
this is some sample data that I used ...
HOUSE     ST_NAME      ST_TYPE SUBURB CITY
3     Houston      Road     Caulfield   LA
25     Bridge      Way     NULL       NULL     
19     Britman      NULL     Springs    NULLThe code goes like this ...
declare
var1 number := 0;
var2 rowid;
begin
for i in (select rowid rid, lower(trim(a.house)||trim(a.st_name)||trim(a.st_type)||trim(a.suburb)||trim(a.city)) str from addr a)
loop
  select instr(i.str,'bridge',1,1), i.rid into var1, var2 from dual;
  if var1 > 0 then
   -- get details from that table using the rowid & add more logic
  end if;
end loop;
end; I hope this solution was in the near by vicinity of your requirement ... ;-)
Do elaborate, if there is more.
PN : Note the usage of 'TRIM' & 'LOWER' in the cursor of the FOR loop.
Regards,
Madhu.