Jonathan Ellis wrote:
: > Also, what happens if the specified length is less than zero? Error,
: > or is it treated as zero?
:
: SQL> select ':' || lpad('abcd', -1, 'foobar') || ':' from dual;
:
: ':
: --
: ::
:
: (colons added so it's obvious that it's a zero-length string)
Returns not empty string but NULL:
SQL> select nvl(lpad('abcd', -1, 'foobar'), 'Null') from dual;
NVL(
----
Null
--
Andrew W. Nosenko (awn(at)bcs(dot)zp(dot)ua)