Compare Strings ignoring accents in SQL (ORACLE)

Question

I would like to know if there is an easy way to compare two text values ignoring the accents and upper case. Im working with an Oracle database. I already searched for an an

Answer 1

use the nlssort function in the following way:

select * from <your_table> where utl_raw.cast_to_varchar2((nlssort(<inspected_column>, 'nls_sort=binary_ai'))) like 'pe%';

The nlssort call transforms accented characters to their linguistic bases and ignores case in comparisons.

Original source is this article (verified on 12c).

Answer 2

Oracle Setup:

CREATE TABLE TABLE_NAME ( value ) AS
SELECT 'pepé' FROM DUAL;

-- Not necessary to create an index but it can speed things up.
CREATE INDEX value_without_accent_idx
  ON TABLE_NAME ( CONVERT( value, 'US7ASCII' ) );

Query:

SELECT *
FROM   table_name
WHERE  CONVERT( value, 'US7ASCII' ) = 'pepe';

Output:

VALUE
-----
pepé  

Answer 3

From this thread you can do the following:

select * from your_table 
where upper(utl_raw.cast_to_varchar2((nlssort(your_column, 'nls_sort=binary_ai')))) like upper('%word%')

Answer 4

This works for Ç and the rest of characters in PT-BR (Portuguese - Brazil):

SELECT CONVERT( 'ÃÕÑ ÁÉÍ Ç', 'SF7ASCII' ) FROM DUAL;
Result: **AON AEI C**

Check your database version:

SELECT * FROM V$VERSION;
   Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
    PL/SQL Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
    "CORE   11.2.0.1.0  Production"
    TNS for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
    NLSRTL Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production