Use substitution variable within Oracle IN clause - sql

Question

I'm trying to write a simple query where the requirement is to use a substitution variable that can be used to enter mutiple possible values for a column that's used for filtering the query.
The reqiurement is to produce the following query
select
CONTRACT,
ORDER_NO,
CUSTOMER_NO
from CUSTOMER_ORDER
where state='Picked'
and contract in ('ABC','DEF')
but the contract values will need to be entered during runtime by means of a substitution variable. I'm working with the limitation of only being able to write a static SQL Query ("select ..from..where..") and no dynamic code can be written inside pl sql blocks.
So, what I tried was the following,
select
CONTRACT,
ORDER_NO,
CUSTOMER_NO
from CUSTOMER_ORDER_JOIN
where contract in (select '''' || REPLACE('&CONTRACT',';',''',''') || '''' from dual)
When the prompt appears for the substitution, I enter ABC;DEF
But this doesn't seem to work. Although when I run the following separately,
select '''' || REPLACE('&CONTRACT',';',''',''') || '''' from dual
I get 'ABC','DEF' as the result.
Why is this not working? Is there a way to achieve my desired result ?
Thanks

Answer 1

One option is to split those values into rows and use them as a subquery.
Example based on Scott's EMP table:
SQL> select ename, job, sal from emp;
ENAME JOB SAL
---------- --------- ----------
SMITH CLERK 920
ALLEN SALESMAN 1600
WARD SALESMAN 1250
JONES MANAGER 2975
MARTIN SALESMAN 1250
BLAKE MANAGER 2850
CLARK MANAGER 2450
SCOTT ANALYST 3000
KING PRESIDENT 10000
TURNER SALESMAN 1500
ADAMS CLERK 1100
JAMES CLERK 950
FORD ANALYST 3000
MILLER CLERK 1300
14 rows selected.
SQL> select ename, job, sal
2 from emp
3 where ename in (select regexp_substr(replace(q'[&&par_ename]', chr(39), ''), '[^,]+', 1, level)
4 from dual
5 connect by level <= regexp_count(q'[&&par_ename]', ',') + 1
6 );
Enter value for par_ename: 'SMITH','ALLEN'
ENAME JOB SAL
---------- --------- ----------
SMITH CLERK 920
ALLEN SALESMAN 1600
SQL>
Alternatively, use sys.odcivarchar2list:
SQL> select ename, job, sal
2 from emp
3 where ename in (select column_value
4 from table(sys.odcivarchar2list(&par_ename))
5 );
Enter value for par_ename: 'SMITH','ALLEN'
ENAME JOB SAL
---------- --------- ----------
SMITH CLERK 920
ALLEN SALESMAN 1600
SQL>
It works without single quotes as well:
SQL> Select ename, job, sal
2 from emp
3 where ename in (select regexp_substr(replace(q'[&&par_ename]', chr(39), ''), '[^,]+', 1, level)
4 from dual
5 connect by level <= regexp_count(q'[&&par_ename]', ',') + 1
6 );
Enter value for par_ename: SMITH,ALLEN,KING
ENAME JOB SAL
---------- --------- ----------
SMITH CLERK 920
ALLEN SALESMAN 1600
KING PRESIDENT 10000
SQL>