Recursive Sub-Query Factoring using the WITH Clause (A.K.A. Common Table Expressions)
Remarks#
Recursive sub-query factoring is available in Oracle 11g R2.
A Simple Integer Generator
Query:
WITH generator ( value ) AS (
SELECT 1 FROM DUAL
UNION ALL
SELECT value + 1
FROM generator
WHERE value < 10
)
SELECT value
FROM generator;
Output:
VALUE
-----
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Splitting a Delimited String
Sample Data:
CREATE TABLE table_name ( value VARCHAR2(50) );
INSERT INTO table_name ( value ) VALUES ( 'A,B,C,D,E' );
Query:
WITH items ( list, item, lvl ) AS (
SELECT value,
REGEXP_SUBSTR( value, '[^,]+', 1, 1 ),
1
FROM table_name
UNION ALL
SELECT value,
REGEXP_SUBSTR( value, '[^,]+', 1, lvl + 1 ),
lvl + 1
FROM items
WHERE lvl < REGEXP_COUNT( value, '[^,]+' )
)
SELECT * FROM items;
Output:
LIST ITEM LVL
--------- ---- ---
A,B,C,D,E A 1
A,B,C,D,E B 2
A,B,C,D,E C 3
A,B,C,D,E D 4
A,B,C,D,E E 5