I am pretty sure I read that oracle puts a character in the field, (it could be on this list or it could be something in oracle 7)
But in a blockdump I just did, for a null row (tow columns both null) there is nothing in the dump, for second row(first col null, second has value) the first column value is shown as '*NULL*' I believe the discussion was something related to how null and empty string is handled. But here again in 816 the empty strings are not shown once again. Oracle 8161 data_block_dump =============== tsiz: 0x1fb8 hsiz: 0x1a pbl: 0x095c2c44 bdba: 0x0140337a flag=----------- ntab=1 nrow=4 frre=-1 fsbo=0x1a fseo=0x1fa7 avsp=0x1f7a tosp=0x1f7a 0xe:pti[0] nrow=4 offs=0 0x12:pri[0] offs=0x1fb5 0x14:pri[1] offs=0x1faf 0x16:pri[2] offs=0x1faa 0x18:pri[3] offs=0x1fa7 block_row_dump: tab 0, row 0, @0x1fb5 tl: 3 fb: --H-FL-- lb: 0x0 cc: 0 tab 0, row 1, @0x1faf tl: 6 fb: --H-FL-- lb: 0x0 cc: 2 col 0: *NULL* col 1: [ 1] 41 tab 0, row 2, @0x1faa tl: 5 fb: --H-FL-- lb: 0x0 cc: 1 col 0: [ 1] 41 tab 0, row 3, @0x1fa7 tl: 3 fb: --H-FL-- lb: 0x1 cc: 0 end_of_block_dump This proves that I was wrong... but I am pretty sure I remember reading about it ... Raj ______________________________________________________ Rajendra Jamadagni MIS, ESPN Inc. Rajendra dot Jamadagni at ESPN dot com Any opinion expressed here is personal and doesn't reflect that of ESPN Inc. QOTD: Any clod can have facts, but having an opinion is an art!
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