Using the result of string_to_table in SQL

Question

Hi,
Apologies if this has already been answered - I couldn't seem to get the right mix of search terms to find what I was looking for.
I'd like to know if there is a way to use the output or APEX_UTIL.string_to_table directly in SQL without any extra coding (I know I could create VARCHAR2 table type and CAST that to a table - essentially I'm wondering if this has already been done for you or not with APEX).
So the end query would be something like:
UPDATE my_table
   SET column_a = 12345
WHERE my_id_column IN (SELECT column_value FROM TABLE(APEX_UTIL.string_to_table(:P1_MY_MULTISELECTLIST)));Regards,
Gareth.

Answer 1

Thanks guys,
Both (obviously) spot on and which was the confirmation I was expecting.
Denes' example was virtually identical to what I'd already come up with (probably cribbed from the same source! ;o)
Andy with regards to the LIKE method this would have worked as well although (initially) I was concerned about the overhead of having to do a TO_CHAR for each row in the 'real' table - in my case they are numbers and not strings, but then I neglected to mention that in the original post so you couldn't have known that. It's also probably a fairly moot point as I have to send it through a function anyway only way to know which is best for a given situation is to test. My gut feel is that for relatively small number of rows there will be no difference/a slight edge towards a TO_CHAR and using LIKE but as the table volumes go up the in list idea might be best - don't quote me on that though!
For what it's worth, my example is below, but it is essentially the same as Denes's/Tom Kyte's functions.
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE my_arr_t AS TABLE OF NUMBER(15, 0);
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_in_list(
   p_string   IN   VARCHAR2
   RETURN my_arr_t AS
   l_string   VARCHAR2(32767) DEFAULT p_string || ':';
   l_data     my_arr_t        := my_arr_t();
   n          NUMBER;
BEGIN
   LOOP
      EXIT WHEN l_string IS NULL;
      n := INSTR(l_string, ':');
      l_data.EXTEND;
      l_data(l_data.COUNT) := TO_NUMBER(TRIM(SUBSTR(l_string, 1, n - 1)));
      l_string := SUBSTR(l_string, n + 1);
   END LOOP;
   RETURN l_data;
END;
SELECT *
  FROM TABLE(CAST(my_in_list('1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8:9:10') AS my_arr_t));Thanks both for the speedy replies.
G.