Oracle - Expressions

This article describes identifiers in Oracle 11g and earlier.

Overview

Expression	Description

DECODE()	Compares expressions to each search value and returns the corresponding result.

Oracle - DECODE
Syntax	DECODE(expr, search, result {, search, result} [, default])
Parameter	The arguments can be any of the numeric types (NUMBER, BINARY_FLOAT, or BINARY_DOUBLE) or character types.
Description	Oracle compares expr to each search value one by one. If expr is equal to a search, Oracle returns the corresponding result. If no match is found, Oracle returns default, or, if default is omitted, returns null. The search, result, and default values can be derived from expressions.
Return Type	If expr is equal to a search, returns result. If no match is found, returns default, or, if default is omitted, returns null.

Equivalents in Other Databases

Database	Equivalent
MSSQL Server	Simple CASE expression