To identify '¿' for this symbol

Question

Hi,
I am using 10g and trying to seek for this record in my data but my query does not work. I have this sign in my data but my query shows 0 records.
SELECT ADDRESS
          FROM a
          WHERE ADDRESS LIKE '%'|| CHR(49855) ||'%'
Thanks

Answer 1

I don't know much about character sets because I have never had to translate the language in Oracle. I did have to update a table to replace the new line character in a field that was migrated from a legacy system during conversion. For that issue, I was able to copy and paste the new line character from a select statement in SQL*Plus into my script. (It looked like a box.)
Unfortunately, that isn't working for me with this inverted question mark. I can do it in TOAD but not SQL*Plus. Running in the same testing 10.2.0.3.0 db on a Sun Solaris server from my Windows XP Professional SP2 pc, here is what I get in TOAD ver 8.6.1.0:
select chr(191) from dual;
CHR(191)
¿Here is what I get in SQL*Plus Release 8.0.6.0.0:
SQL> select chr(191) from dual;
C
?I get the same results whether I use chr(191) or chr(49855). I was able to use TOAD to insert the character into a temporary table. Here's what I get in TOAD:
select voucher_no, voucher_description from matt_temp where voucher_description like '%'||chr(191)||'%';
VOUCHER_NO     VOUCHER_DESCRIPTION
S700001          What would you like to eat tonight¿Here is the SQL*Plus output:
SQL> select voucher_no, voucher_description from matt_temp where voucher_description like '%'||chr(191)||'%';
VOUCHER_NO VOUCHER_DESCRIPTION
S700001    What would you like to eat tonight?The tool obviously makes a difference in being able to select the records. Hopefully someone who knows more about ascii codes will reply.