Oracle 'printf' equivalent

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

No there are no built-in Oracle functions that apply a formatting string in this fashion. Although it would be easy to write a custom function for this specific example, writing a PL/SQL-based implementation of printf would be challenging.

If you have a frequent need for this, perhaps you could write an Oracle function that wraps a Java call for a richer string handling environment.

Just another idea for you: I've found REPLACE to be useful for this kind of thing, especially when the template is complex:

SELECT REPLACE(REPLACE(        '%mix_type% (%mix_num%)' /*template*/       ,'%mix_type%', mix_type)       ,'%mix_num%' , mix_num ) as description,FROM   acid_batchWHERE  mix_num < 10

The only downside is you need to add as many REPLACE('s as there are variables to replace - but at least you only need to have one per variable, regardless of how many times it appears in the template.

(NOTE: There is no particular significance to using "%" as a delimiter, it's just a personal convention of mine - you might choose a different pattern, e.g. <mix_type> or [mix_type])

For this particular instance it looks like overkill, but in some cases it can make things much easier, e.g.:

template := 'bla bla %a% %b% %a%';output := REPLACE(REPLACE(template    ,'%a%', some_complex_expression)    ,'%b%', b);

Compare the above with:

output := 'bla bla ' || some_complex_expression || ' ' || b || ' ' || some_complex_expression;