Re: Help with DECODE

decode is either true or false there is no real way of doing ranges.

But, doing a UNION ALL with the 2 different ranges of data could be a solution

Alistair Thomson wrote in message <35470AA9.9538B9F5_at_spinxcst.co.uk>...
>Hi
>
>I'm trying to get to grips with decode and am having difficulty in using
>expressions in decode. An example of the data is shown below:
>
>M28 Cluster 6.8
>M29 Cluster 7.1
>M30 Cluster 7.2
>M31 Galaxy 3.4
>M32 Galaxy 8.1
>M33 Galaxy 5.7
>M34 Cluster 5.5
>M35 Cluster 5.3
>M36 Cluster 6.3
>M37 Cluster 6.2
>M38 Cluster 6.4
>M39 Cluster 5.2
>M40 Double Star 8.4
>
>When I use decode like this
>
>select id, type, decode(magnitude,5.5,'faint',8.4,'very faint') from
>astro;
>
>I get the following:
>
>M28 Cluster 6.8
>M29 Cluster 7.1
>M30 Cluster 7.2
>M31 Galaxy 3.4
>M32 Galaxy 8.1
>M33 Galaxy 5.7
>M34 Cluster 5.5 faint
>M35 Cluster 5.3
>M36 Cluster 6.3
>M37 Cluster 6.2
>M38 Cluster 6.4
>M39 Cluster 5.2
>M40 Double Star 8.4 very faint
>
>What I really want to do is say that everything < 5 is visible and >= 5
>is not visible. But when the decode looks like this I get an error:
>
>select id, type, decode(magnitude,<5.5,'faint',>=5.5,'very faint') from
>astro;
>
>Can anyone tell me if it's possible to use decode in this way and if it
>is give a pointer as to how its done.
>
>Thanks
>
>Alistair Thomson
>
>please email alistair.thomson_at_sphinxcst.co.uk
>
>
>
Received on Thu Apr 30 1998 - 21:23:16 CDT