Valid For

Extract and Replicat

Description

Use NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS parameter for Extract or Replicat to switch index values between byte position and character position. For example, the function @STRNCMP(col1, col2, 3) compares the first three bytes if BYTE semantics is specified, but compares the first three characters if CHAR semantics is specified.

Functions affected:

• @STRFIND
• @STRNCMP

Using NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS causes the following column mapping functions to returns the number of bytes or number characters.

• @STRLEN

The following functions always work in CHAR semantics to prevent truncation in the middle of multibyte characters.

• @STRNCAT
• @STREXT

Default

Byte

Syntax

NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS [BYTE | CHAR]

Example

The following forces semantics to CHAR:

NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS CHAR

The following forces semantics to BYTE, which is the default:

NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS BYTE