regexp_instr(comments, '[^ ]+', 1, 9) > 0 : REGEXP_INSTR « Regular Expressions Functions « Oracle PL/SQL Tutorial

SQL>
SQL> create table history
  2  ( empno      NUMBER(4)
  3  , beginyear  NUMBER(4)
  4  , begindate  DATE
  5  , enddate    DATE
  6  , deptno     NUMBER(2)
  7  , msal       NUMBER(6,2)
  8  , comments   VARCHAR2(60)
  9  ) ;

Table created.

SQL>
SQL>
SQL> insert into history values (9,2000,date '2000-01-01',date '2002-01-02',40, 950,'history for 9');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (8,2000,date '2000-01-02', NULL       ,20, 800,'');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (7,1988,date '2000-01-06',date '2002-01-07',30,1000,'');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (6,1989,date '2000-01-07',date '2002-01-12',30,1300,'');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (5,1993,date '2000-01-12',date '2002-01-10',30,1500,'history for 5');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (4,1995,date '2000-01-10',date '2002-01-11',30,1700,'');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (3,1999,date '2000-01-11', NULL       ,30,1600,'');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (2,1986,date '2000-01-10',date '2002-01-08',20,1000,'history for 2');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (1,1987,date '2000-01-08',date '2002-01-01',30,1000,'history for 1');

1 row created.

SQL> insert into history values (7,1989,date '2000-01-01',date '2002-05-12',30,1150,'history for 7');

1 row created.

SQL>
SQL> select comments
  2  from   history
  3  where  regexp_instr(comments, '[^ ]+', 1, 9) > 0;

no rows selected

SQL>
SQL>
SQL> drop table history;

Table dropped.

SQL>
SQL>

18.2.REGEXP_INSTR
	18.2.1.	Regexp_Instr returns the location (beginning) of a pattern in a given string
	18.2.2.	REGEXP_INSTR(x, pattern [, start [, occurrence [, return_option [, match_option]]]]) searches for pattern in x.
	18.2.3.	Regexp_Instr
	18.2.4.	Parameters is a field that may be used to define how one wants the search to proceed:
	18.2.5.	Find the 's' and ignore case.
	18.2.6.	The simplest regular expression matches letters, letter for letter
	18.2.7.	SELECT REGEXP_INSTR('Two is bigger than One','One') where_it_is
	18.2.8.	Occurrence refers to the first, second, third, etc., occurrence of the pattern in S. The default is 1 (first).
	18.2.9.	Return-option returns the position of the start or end of the matched string.
	18.2.10.	The Return-option is set to 1 to indicate the end of the found pattern
	18.2.11.	Returns the position of the second occurrence that matches the regular expression s[[:alpha:]]{3} starting at position 1:
	18.2.12.	Returns the position of the second occurrence that matches the letter o starting at position 10 using REGEXP_INSTR()
	18.2.13.	Specify any series of letters and find matches, just like INSTR
	18.2.14.	regexp_instr(comments, '[^ ]+', 1, 9) > 0