Multiple REPLACE function in Oracle

Question

I am using the REPLACE function in oracle to replace values in my string like;

 SELECT REPLACE(\'THE NEW VALUE IS #VAL1#\',\'#VAL1#\',\'55\') fr         


        

Answer 1

Bear in mind the consequences

SELECT REPLACE(REPLACE('TEST123','123','456'),'45','89') FROM DUAL;

will replace the 123 with 456, then find that it can replace the 45 with 89. For a function that had an equivalent result, it would have to duplicate the precedence (ie replacing the strings in the same order).

Similarly, taking a string 'ABCDEF', and instructing it to replace 'ABC' with '123' and 'CDE' with 'xyz' would still have to account for a precedence to determine whether it went to '123EF' or ABxyzF'.

In short, it would be difficult to come up with anything generic that would be simpler than a nested REPLACE (though something that was more of a sprintf style function would be a useful addition).