[sql] UPDATE with CASE and IN - Oracle

I wrote a query that works like a charm in SQL Server. Unfortunately it needs to be run on an Oracle db. I have been searching the web inside out for a solution on how to convert it, without any success :/

The query looks like this i SQL:

UPDATE tab1   SET budgpost_gr1=     
CASE  WHEN (budgpost in (1001,1012,50055))  THEN 'BP_GR_A'   
      WHEN (budgpost in (5,10,98,0))  THEN 'BP_GR_B'  
      WHEN (budgpost in (11,876,7976,67465))     
      ELSE 'Missing' END`

My problem is also that the columns budgetpost_gr1 and budgetpost is alphanumeric and Oracle seems to want to see the list as numbers. The list are variables/parameters that is pre-defined as comma separated lists, which is just dumped into the query.

You said that budgetpost is alphanumeric. That means it is looking for comparisons against strings. You should try enclosing your parameters in single quotes (and you are missing the final THEN in the Case expression).

UPDATE tab1   
SET budgpost_gr1=   CASE  
                        WHEN (budgpost in ('1001','1012','50055'))  THEN 'BP_GR_A'   
                        WHEN (budgpost in ('5','10','98','0'))  THEN 'BP_GR_B'  
                        WHEN (budgpost in ('11','876','7976','67465')) THEN 'What?'
                        ELSE 'Missing' 
                        END 

"The list are variables/paramaters that is pre-defined as comma separated lists". Do you mean that your query is actually

UPDATE tab1   SET budgpost_gr1=     
CASE  WHEN (budgpost in ('1001,1012,50055'))  THEN 'BP_GR_A'   
      WHEN (budgpost in ('5,10,98,0'))  THEN 'BP_GR_B'  
      WHEN (budgpost in ('11,876,7976,67465'))     
      ELSE 'Missing' END`

If so, you need a function to take a string and parse it into a list of numbers.

create type tab_num is table of number;

create or replace function f_str_to_nums (i_str in varchar2) return tab_num is
  v_tab_num tab_num := tab_num();
  v_start   number := 1;
  v_end     number;
  v_delim   VARCHAR2(1) := ',';
  v_cnt     number(1) := 1;
begin
  v_end := instr(i_str||v_delim,v_delim,1, v_start);
  WHILE v_end > 0 LOOP
    v_cnt := v_cnt + 1;
    v_tab_num.extend;
    v_tab_num(v_tab_num.count) := 
                  substr(i_str,v_start,v_end-v_start);
    v_start := v_end + 1;
    v_end := instr(i_str||v_delim,v_delim,v_start);
  END LOOP;
  RETURN v_tab_num;
end;
/

Then you can use the function like so:

select column_id, 
   case when column_id in 
     (select column_value from table(f_str_to_nums('1,2,3,4'))) then 'red' 
   else 'blue' end
from  user_tab_columns
where table_name = 'EMP'

Use to_number to convert budgpost to a number:

when to_number(budgpost,99999) in (1001,1012,50055) THEN 'BP_GR_A' 

EDIT: Make sure there are enough 9's in to_number to match to largest budget post.

If there are non-numeric budget posts, you could filter them out with a where clause at then end of the query:

where regexp_like(budgpost, '^-?[[:digit:],.]+$')

There is another workaround you can use to update using a join. This example below assumes you want to de-normalize a table by including a lookup value (in this case storing a users name in the table). The update includes a join to find the name and the output is evaluated in a CASE statement that supports the name being found or not found. The key to making this work is ensuring all the columns coming out of the join have unique names. In the sample code, notice how b.user_name conflicts with the a.user_name column and must be aliased with the unique name "user_user_name".

UPDATE
(
    SELECT a.user_id, a.user_name, b.user_name as user_user_name
    FROM some_table a
    LEFT OUTER JOIN user_table b ON a.user_id = b.user_id
    WHERE a.user_id IS NOT NULL
)
SET user_name = CASE
    WHEN user_user_name IS NOT NULL THEN user_user_name
    ELSE 'UNKNOWN'
    END;