Understanding the DECODE statement in an SQL Query......

Question

Hi,
This is my query:
SELECT
DECODE(IT.master_flag,0,'-',ea_submission_date),
DECODE(IT.master_flag,0,'-',ea_approval_date),
DECODE(IT.master_flag,0,'-',ea_date),
DECODE(IT.master_flag,0,'-',ea_comments)
FROM
amendment it,
{CODE}
The master_flag on the AMENDMENT table can be 1,0 or NULL.
I want the above query to output a '-' character in the result set in the 4 columns being selected if the master_flag is either 0 or null.
If it is one 1 however, then display the value of the column. E.G display the data in 'ea_submission_date', 'ea_approval_date', 'ea_date,  and 'ea_comments' (if there are values in these columns of course.
Am I right in using the above query?
Thanks!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Answer 1

Sastry wrote:
Am I right in using the above query?You're almost there. Just add the logic for the NULL value.
example
SELECT
DECODE(IT.master_flag,0,'-',null, '-', ea_submission_date) ea_submission_date,
DECODE(IT.master_flag,0,'-',null, '-', ea_approval_date) ea_approval_date,
DECODE(IT.master_flag,0,'-',null, '-', ea_date) ea_date,
DECODE(IT.master_flag,0,'-',null, '-', ea_comments) ea_comments
FROM
amendment it, ...btw, your closing code tag needs to be in lower case too. Please edit your original post and correct that.