Oracle 'printf' equivalent

Question

Is there an equivalent or alternative to the following?

SELECT mix_type || \' (\' || mix_num || \')\' as description
  FROM acid_batch
 WHERE mix_num < 10         


        

Answer 1

The closest standard approximation to printf for Oracle I can think of is utl_lms.format_message. However, it won't work in SQL statements, that is, this is ok:

begin
  dbms_output.put_line(
    utl_lms.format_message('hello %s, the number is %d', 'world', 42)
  );
end;
/

but this gives a ORA-00902: invalid datatype error:

select utl_lms.format_message('hello %s, the number is %d', 'world', 42)
  from dual