On Mon, Jan 21, 2002 at 10:52:06AM -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Tim, > > I've always chosen to just deal with the nulls rather than worry about > padded strings or storing a single space. Personally I can't stand > storing a single space to represent an empty string and prefer the null. > > Not all share my opinion obviously, but I've just gone along with > the trinary logic of working with nulls whenever working with Oracle.
Personally I'm very happy with NULLs and trinary logic. I like NULLs, in their place. But there is a _world_ of difference between a NULL and an empty string. But since we all know that here let's not start a long thread rehashing that old topic :) > If I were to use other databases extensively and were concerned > about writing portable code, that sentiment would likely change. > > The authors of modules that provide a generic interface to many > different databases will no doubt thank you for this. I hope so. Certainly it, or something like it, will be important to me migrating from MySQL to Oracle (an ongoing background project). Tim. > Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 01/20/02 03:15 PM > Please respond to ORACLE-L > > > To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > cc: > Subject: DBD::Oracle: "" vs NULL, and a possible change to the >ChopBlanks attribute > > > It's well know that Oracle#s state of the art database server can > rarely tell the difference between an empty string and a NULL > (I presume that's not changed recently, though I'd be very happy > to be told otherwise). > > So people who don't want empty strings being stored as NULLs in > their fields tend to use some specific non-empty string insead, > a single space being very common. > > The DBI has an attribute called ChopBlanks that, when set true, > enables the automatic removal of trailing spaces from fetched CHAR > field data (which Oracle has 'helpfully' padded out to the declared > fixed width). > > I'm considering extending the definition of ChopBlanks to include > VARCHAR type fields. This has been requested several times over the > years by DBI users. The change would neatly hide the use of a space > to represent an empty string. > > I'd like to get some feedback on this idea from DBD::Oracle users. > > I'm especially interested in the risk of changing the behaviour of > existing code. That would _only_ happen if you explicitly set > ChopBlanks, and fetch VARCHAR data that has trailing spaces, and the > removal of those spaces would change the behaviour of your application. > > An alternative approach would be to add a new private attribute > that just translates a single space value into an empty value. > That would be "safer" but less generically useful. > > Tim > > p.s. I've sent this to both [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Please delete at least one of these addresses when replying. Thanks. > > p.p.s. A corresponding mechanism to optionally automatically treat > empty strings bound to placeholders as a single space will probably > also be added to DBD::Oracle and enabled via private attribute. > -- > Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com > -- > Author: Tim Bunce > INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 > San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message > to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in > the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L > (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may > also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). > > > -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Tim Bunce INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
