CURSOR_SHARING=SIMILAR

Hi,

I am using Oracle 9i (9.2.0.6) on HPUX. I have the CURSOR_SHARING parameter set to SIMILAR and on testing I believe I may have some issues.

SQL> alter session set cursor_sharing = 'EXACT';

Session altered.

SQL> select 'AAA' from dual;

'AA

---
AAA

SQL> alter session set cursor_sharing = 'SIMILAR';

Session altered.

SQL> select 'AAA' from dual;          --- <== found from cache



'AA

---
AAA

SQL> select 'BBB' from dual;         -- <== brand new one, notice the
size of the returned value



'BBB'

--------------------------------
BBB

I read an article in asktom site about this which explains the reason
as Oracle binds the literal string to a variable length constant. My
question is can it create a problem, if my application looking for Y/N
values coming back and the sql returned 'Y       ' ?