Insert some spaces into a string oracle database - sql

Question

I have a oracle table called MYTABLE , with a prog_model column.
I am trying the CASE (if oracle) to insert some spaces into my prog_model depending of the string length.
My issue is that I'm getting ORA-00936 error missing expression ligne 3 c18 I have no idea where it comes from being a super noob in SQL, any ideas?
Here is my .sql :
SELECT prog_model,
CASE Length(prog_model)
WHEN 11 THEN Insert(' ',2,3,prog_model)
WHEN 12 THEN Insert(' ',2,3,prog_model)
WHEN 13 THEN Insert(' ',2,3,prog_model)
END
FROM MYTABLE;
EDIT:
Basically in prog_model I always have a string from 11 to 14 characters :
if 11 chars , "ABCEFGHIJKL" --> "ABC_ _ _EFGHIKL"
if 12 chars , "ABCEFGHIJKLM" --> "ABC_ _EFGHIJKLM"

Answer 1

I am not aware of an insert() function in Oracle. There is one in MySQL, though. Your error is probably because insert is a keyword.
If you wanted the spaces at the beginning, you would use the lpad() function only:
select lpad(prog_model, 14, ' ')
You seem to want them in the middle. I think this goes like:
select substr(prog_model, 1, 3) || lpad(substr(prog_model, 4), 11, ' ')
I might have the length wrong in the second part. Without sample data, it is challenging to figure out the exact length.

Answer 2

How about this (three approaches to try, including Gordon's substr/lpad):
with demo (prog_model) as
( select 'ABCEFGHIJKL' from dual union all
select 'ABCEFGHIJKLM' from dual union all
select 'ABCEFGHIJKLMN' from dual union all
select 'ABCEFGHIJKLMNO' from dual )
select prog_model
, regexp_replace(prog_model,'(...)(.*$)', '\1'|| rpad(' ',14 - length(prog_model)) ||'\2') as result1
, case length(prog_model)
when 11 then regexp_replace(prog_model,'(...)(.*$)', '\1 \2')
when 12 then regexp_replace(prog_model,'(...)(.*$)', '\1 \2')
when 13 then regexp_replace(prog_model,'(...)(.*$)', '\1 \2')
when 14 then prog_model
end as result2
, substr(prog_model,1,3) || lpad(substr(prog_model,4),11) as result3
from demo;
PROG_MODEL RESULT1 RESULT2 RESULT3
-------------- -------------- -------------- --------------
ABCEFGHIJKL ABC EFGHIJKL ABC EFGHIJKL ABC EFGHIJKL
ABCEFGHIJKLM ABC EFGHIJKLM ABC EFGHIJKLM ABC EFGHIJKLM
ABCEFGHIJKLMN ABC EFGHIJKLMN ABC EFGHIJKLMN ABC EFGHIJKLMN
ABCEFGHIJKLMNO ABCEFGHIJKLMNO ABCEFGHIJKLMNO ABCEFGHIJKLMNO