DECOMPOSE

Syntax

decompose::=

Text description of decompose

Purpose

DECOMPOSE is valid only for Unicode characters. DECOMPOSE takes as its argument a string in any datatype and returns a Unicode string after decomposition in the same character set as the input. For example, an o-umlaut codepoint will be returned as the "o" codepoint followed by an umlaut codepoint.

• string can be any of the datatypes CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, NVARCHAR2, CLOB, or NCLOB.
• CANONICAL causes canonical decomposition, which allows recomposition (for example, with the COMPOSE function) to the original string. This is the default.
• COMPATIBILITY causes decomposition in compatibility mode. In this mode, recomposition is not possible. This mode is useful, for example, when decomposing half-width and full-width katakana characters, where recomposition might not be desirable without external formatting or style information.

  See Also: Oracle9i Database Concepts for information on Unicode character sets and character semantics

Examples

The following example decomposes the string "Châteaux" into its component codepoints:

SELECT DECOMPOSE ('Châteaux') FROM DUAL; 

DECOMPOSE
---------
Cha^teaux