Re: BUG #15091: to_number() returns incorrect value

Andrew Gierth <andrew(at)tao11(dot)riddles(dot)org(dot)uk> writes:
> "Tom" == Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> writes:
> Tom> Tested at
> Tom> http://rextester.com/l/oracle_online_compiler

> The problem is that this tester is defaulting to a German locale and
> using . as a thousands separator and , as decimal point, as shown by
> this query:
> select * from nls_session_parameters
> where parameter in ('NLS_TERRITORY','NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS')

Oh, thanks ... I was wondering what locale it had chosen, but did
not know how to find out.

> If you do
> ALTER SESSION SET NLS_TERRITORY = 'AMERICA' \\
> SELECT to_number('123.0', 'FM9999999') FROM DUAL
> then the result is, as expected,
> ORA-01722: invalid number

Hmm. That doesn't seem too helpful. Between throwing an error
and returning "123", seems like the latter would be better.
Do we want to be bug-compatible here?

regards, tom lane