Question: Is there a limit to the number of arguments that you can have in one DECODE statement? I'm getting an error, 'ORA-00939: too many arguments for function'.Īnswer: Yes, the maximum number of components that you can have in a DECODE function is 255. If yrs_of_service = 1 and 5 then return 0.06Īnswer: You will need to create a formula that will evaluate to a single number for each one of your ranges.ĭECODE(TRUNC (( yrs_of_service + 3) / 4), 0, 0.04, Question: I need to write a DECODE statement that will return the following: The formula will evaluate to 2, if the supplier_id is between 21 and 30. The formula will evaluate to 1, if the supplier_id is between 11 and 20. The formula will evaluate to 0, if the supplier_id is between 1 and 10. In this example, based on the formula: TRUNC ((supplier_id - 1) / 10 However, you can try to create a formula that will evaluate to one number for a given range, and another number for the next range, and so on.ĭECODE(TRUNC ((supplier_id - 1) / 10), 0, 'category 1', Question: I would like to know if it's possible to use the DECODE function for ranges of numbers, ie 1-10 = 'category 1', 11-20 = 'category 2', rather than having to individually decode each number.Īnswer: Unfortunately, you can not use the DECODE function for ranges of numbers. The date example above could be modified as follows: LEAST(date1, date2) Helpful Tip #2: One of our viewers suggested using the LEAST function (instead of the DECODE function) as follows: Sales Bonuses DECODE(SIGN(actual-target), -1, 'NO Bonus for you', 0,'Just made it', 1, 'Congrats, you are a winner') The SIGN/DECODE combination is also helpful for numeric comparisons e.g.

The date example above could be modified as follows: DECODE(SIGN(date1-date2), 1, date2, date1) Helpful Tip #1: One of our viewers suggested combining the SIGN function with the DECODE function as follows: The formula below would equal 0, if date1 is greater than date2: (date1 - date2) - ABS(date1 - date2) Otherwise, the DECODE function should return date1.Īnswer: To accomplish this, use the DECODE function as follows: DECODE((date1 - date2) - ABS(date1 - date2), 0, date2, date1) Question: One of our viewers wanted to know how to use the DECODE function to compare two dates (ie: date1 and date2), where if date1 > date2, the DECODE function should return date2.

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