image::https://travis-ci.com/orafce/orafce.svg?branch=master[]

= Orafce - Oracle's compatibility functions and packages

Functions and operators that emulate a subset of functions and packages from the Oracle RDBMS.

There is an associated Google group - https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/orafce-general

The Orafce is supported in https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2018/03/amazon-aurora-with-postgresql-compatibility-supports-minor-version-9-6-6/?nc1=h_ls[AWS Aurora with PostgreSQL Compatibility] and also in https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/updates/the-orafce-extension-on-azure-database-for-postgresql-is-now-available/[Azure Database for PostgreSQL].

== Oracle functions and Oracle packages

This module contains some useful functions that can help with porting
Oracle application to PostgreSQL or that can be generally useful. 

Built-in Oracle date functions have been tested against Oracle 10 for
conformance. Date ranges from 1960 to 2070 work correctly. Dates before
1100-03-01 cannot be verified due to a bug in Oracle.

All functions are fully compatibles with Oracle and respect all known
format strings. Detailed descriptions can be found on the internet.
Use keywords like : oracle round trunc date iyyy.

== List of format strings for trunc, round functions

----
Y,YY,YYY,YYYY,SYYY,SYEAR	year
I,IY,IYY,IYYY			iso year
Q,				quarter
WW				week, day as first day of year
IW				week, beginning Monday
W				week, day as first day of month
DAY,DY,D			first day of week, sunday
MONTH,MON,MM,RM			month
CC,SCC				century
DDD,DD,J			day
HH,HH12,HH24			hour
MI				minute
----

Functions round up. That is, a date of July 1st will be rounded to the next
year. The 16th of July will be rounded to August.

== Date Functions

* add_months(date, integer) date - Returns date plus n months
+
-----
	add_months(date '2005-05-31',1) -> 2005-06-30
-----
* last_date(date) date - Returns last day of the month based on a date value
+
----
	last_day(date '2005-05-24') -> 2005-05-31
----
* next_day(date, text) date - Returns the first weekday that is greater than a date value
+
----
	next_day(date '2005-05-24', 'monday') -> 2005-05-30
----
* next_day(date, integer) date - Same as above. The second argument should be 1..7 and interpreted as Sunday..Satday.
+
----
	next_day(date '2005-05-24', 1) -> 2005-05-30
----
* months_between(date, date) numeric - Returns the number of months between date1 and date2. If a fractional month is calculated, the months_between  function calculates the fraction based on a 31-day month. 
+
----
	months_between(date '1995-02-02', date '1995-01-01') -> 1.0322580645161
----
* trunc(date, text) date - truncate date according to the specified format
+
----
	trunc(date '2005-07-12', 'iw') -> 2005-07-11
----
* round(date, text) date - will round dates according to the specified format
+
----
	round(date '2005-07-12', 'yyyy') -> 2006-01-01
----
* to_date(text) timestamp - will typecast input text to timestamp.
 The GUC orafce.nls_date_format is used to specify input text format for this function.
 If the value is left blank or set as DEFAULT then input text format according to
 PostgreSQL's datestyle GUC setting.
+
	orafce.nls_date_format value to DEFAULT
----
	to_date('2014-05-19 17:23:53+5:30') -> 2014-05-19 17:23:53
----
+
   orafce.nls_date_format='YYYY-MMDD HH24:MI:SS'
----
	to_date('2014-0519 17:23:53+5:30')  -> 2014-05-19 17:23:53
----

== oracle.date data type

This module contains implementation of oracle compatible DATE data type "oracle.date" and functions which are using DATE data type like oracle.add_months,oracle.last_day(),oracle.next_day(),oracle.months_between() etc.

Example:
----
    set search_path TO oracle,"$user", public, pg_catalog;
    create table oracle_date(col1 date);
    insert into oracle_date values('2014-06-24 12:12:11'::date);
    select * from oracle_date;
            col1         
    ---------------------
     2014-06-24 12:12:11
    (1 row)
----
== oracle.date functions

* oracle.add_months(timestamp with time zone, integer) - Returns date and time plus n months
+
-----
	oracle.add_months(oracle.date'2005-05-31 10:12:12',1) -> 2005-06-30 10:12:12
-----
* oracle.last_day(timestamp with time zone) - Returns last day of the month based on a date value
+
-----
	oracle.last_day(oracle.date '2005-05-24 11:12:12') -> 2005-05-31 11:12:12
-----
* oracle.next_day(timestamp with time zone, text) - Returns the first weekday that is greater than a date value
+
-----
	oracle.next_day(oracle.date '2005-05-24 10:12:12', 'monday') -> 2005-05-30 10:12:12
-----
* oracle.next_day(timestamp with time zone, integer) - Same as above. The second argument should be 1..7 and interpreted as Sunday..Saturday.
+
-----
	oracle.next_day(oracle.date '2005-05-24 11:21:12', 1) -> 2005-05-29 11:21:12
-----
* oracle.months_between(timestamp with time zone, timestamp with time zone) - Returns the number of months between timestamp1 and timestamp2. If a fractional month is calculated,  the months_between function calculates the fraction based on a 31-day month.
+
-----
	oracle.months_between(oracle.date '1995-02-02 10:00:00', oracle.date '1995-01-01 10:21:11') -> 1.03225806451613
-----
* oracle.to_date(text,text) - Returns timestamp without time zone.
+
----
	oracle.to_date('02/16/09 04:12:12', 'MM/DD/YY HH24:MI:SS') -> 2009-02-16 04:12:12
----
* oracle.to_date(text) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('02/16/09 04:12:12') -> 2009-02-16 04:12:12
----
* oracle.sysdate() - Returns statement timestamp at server timezone (orafce.timezone)
+
-----
	oracle.sysdate() -> 2015-12-09 17:47:56
-----
* oracle.dbtimezone - Returns server time zone - emulated via orafce.timezone
+
-----
	oracle.dbtimezone() -> GMT
-----
* oracle.sessiontimezone() - Returns session timezone - current PostgreSQL timezone
+
-----
	oracle.sessiontimezone() -> Europe/Prague
-----
* oracle.to_char(timestamp) - Returns timestamp in nls_date_format.
+
----
	orafce.nls_date_format='YY-MonDD HH24:MI:SS'
----
+
----
	oracle.to_char(to_date('14-Jan08 11:44:49+05:30')) -> 14-Jan08 11:44:49
----
+
----
	orafce.nls_date_format='YY-MonDD HH24:MI:SS'
----
+
----
	oracle.to_char(oracle.to_date('21052014 12:13:44+05:30','DDMMYYYY HH24:MI:SS')) -> 14-May21 12:13:44
----



== oracle.date Operators

* oracle.+(oracle.date,smallint) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-02 10:08:55','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS') + 9::smallint -> 2014-07-11 10:08:55
----
* oracle.+(oracle.date,integer) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-02 10:08:55','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS') + 9::integer -> 2014-07-11 10:08:55
----
* oracle.+(oracle.date,bigint) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-02 10:08:55','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS') + 9::bigint -> 2014-07-11 10:08:55
----
* oracle.+(oracle.date,numeric) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-02 10:08:55','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS') + 9::numeric -> 2014-07-11 10:08:55
----
* oracle.-(oracle.date,smallint) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-02 10:08:55','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS') - 9::smallint -> 2014-06-23 10:08:55
----
* oracle.-(oracle.date,integer) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-02 10:08:55','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS') - 9::integer -> 2014-06-23 10:08:55
----
* oracle.-(oracle.date,bigint) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-02 10:08:55','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS') - 9::bigint -> 2014-06-23 10:08:55
----
* oracle.-(oracle.date,numeric) - Returns oracle.date
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-02 10:08:55','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS') - 9::numeric -> 2014-06-23 10:08:55
----
* oracle.-(oracle.date,oracle.date) - Returns double precision
+
----
	oracle.to_date('2014-07-17 11:10:15', 'yyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss') - oracle.to_date('2014-02-01 10:00:00', 'yyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss') -> 166.048785
----

You need to set search_path TO oracle,"$user", public, pg_catalog
because functions like oracle.add_months,oracle.last_day,oracle.next_day,oracle.months_between are installed side-by-side with pg_catalog.add_months,pg_catalog.last_day,pg_catalog.next_day,pg_catalog.months_between.

== Table dual

PostgreSQL does not need Oracle's table 'dual', but since it is intensively
used by Oracle users, it has been added in orafce.

== Package dbms_output

PostgreSQL sends information to the client via RAISE NOTICE. Oracle uses
dbms_output.put_line(). This works differently from RAISE NOTICE. Oracle has 
a session queue, put_line() adds a line to the queue and the function 
get_line() reads from queue. If flag 'serveroutput' is set, then client
over all sql statements reads queue. You can use:

----
    select dbms_output.enable();
    select dbms_output.put_line('first_line');
    select dbms_output.put_line('next_line');
    select * from dbms_output.get_lines(0);
----
    
or

----
    select dbms_output.enable();
    select dbms_output.serveroutput('t');
    select dbms_output.put_line('first_line');
----
    
This package contains the following functions: enable(), disable(), 
serveroutput(), put(), put_line(), new_line(), get_line(), get_lines(). 
The package queue is implemented in the session's local memory.

== Package utl_file

This package allows PL/pgSQL programs to read from and write to any files that are
accessible from server. Every session can open a maximum of ten files and max
line size is 32K. This package contains following functions:

* utl_file.fclose(file utl_file.file_type)  - close file
* utl_file.fclose_all()  - close all files
* utl_file.fcopy(src_location, src_filename, dest_location, dest_filename[, start_line][, end_line]) - copy text file
* utl_file.fflush(file utl_file.file_type)  - flushes all data from buffers
* utl_file.fgetattr(location, filename) - get file attributes
* utl_file.fopen(location text, filename text, file_mode text [, maxlinesize int] [, encoding name]) utl_file.file_type  - open file
* utl_file.fremove(location, filename) - remove file
* utl_file.frename(location, filename, dest_dir, dest_file[, overwrite]) - rename file
* utl_file.get_line(file utl_file.file_type) text  - read one line from file
* utl_file.get_nextline(file utl_file.file_type) text  - read one line from file or returns NULL
* utl_file.is_open(file utl_file.file_type) bool  - returns true, if file is opened
* utl_file.new_line(file utl_file.file_type [,rows int])  - puts some new line chars to file
* utl_file.put(file utl_file.file_type, buffer text)  - puts buffer to file
* utl_file.put_line(file utl_file.file_type, buffer text)  - puts line to file
* utl_file.putf(file utl_file.file_type, format buffer [,arg1 text][,arg2 text][..][,arg5 text])  - put formated text into file
* utl_file.tmpdir() - get path of temp directory

Because PostgreSQL doesn't support call by reference, some functions are slightly different:
fclose and get_line.

----
  declare f utl_file.file_type;
  begin
    f := utl_file.fopen('/tmp', 'sample.txt', 'r');
    <<readl>>
    loop
      begin
        raise notice '%', utl_file.get_line(f);
      exception
        when no_data_found then
          exit readl;
      end;
    end loop;
    f := fclose(f);
  end; 
----

or second (with PostgreSQL specific function get_nextline)

----
    declare 
      f utl_file.file_type;
      line text;
    begin
      f := utl_file.fopen('/tmp', 'sample.txt', 'r');
      loop
        line := utl_file.get_nextline(f);
        exit when line is NULL;
        raise notice '%', line;
    exception
      when others then
        utl_file.fclose_all();
    end;
----

Before using the package you have to set the utl_file.utl_file_dir table.
It contains all allowed directories without ending symbol ('/' or '\').
On WinNT platform, the paths have to end with symbol '\' everytime.

Directory entries can be named (second column in table `utl_file.utl_file_dir`).
The `location` parameter can be either the directory name or the dictionary path.
The location is first interpreted and checked as a directory name.
If not found (in 2nd column), then the location is interpreted and checked as a path.

Functions from utl_file package (schema on Postgres) requires a access to
table utl_file.utl_file_dir. This fact can be used to control what users
can use these functions or not. Default setting is READ for PUBLIC. INSERT, UPDATE can
do only privileged user (super user). So unprivileged user can use functions
from this package, but cannot to change list of safe directories (content of
utl_file.utl_file_dir table). The content of this table is visible for PUBLIC
(or should be visible for users who uses functions from this package).

== Package dbms_pipe

This package is an emulation of dbms_pipe Oracle package. It provides 
inter-session comunication. You can send and read any message with or without 
waiting; list active pipes; set a pipe as private or public; and, use 
explicit or implicit pipes. 

The maximum number of pipes is 50.

Shared memory is used to send messages.

An example follows:

----
-- Session A
select dbms_pipe.create_pipe('my_pipe',10,true); -- explicit pipe creating
select dbms_pipe.pack_message('neco je jinak');
select dbms_pipe.pack_message('anything is else');
select dbms_pipe.send_message('my_pipe',20,0); -- change limit and send without waiting
select * from dbms_pipe.db_pipes; -- list of current pipes

-- Session B
select dbms_pipe.receive_message('my_pipe',1); -- wait max 1 sec for message
select dbms_pipe.next_item_type(); -- -> 11, text
select dbms_pipe.unpack_message_text();
select dbms_pipe.next_item_type(); -- -> 11, text
select dbms_pipe.unpack_message_text();
select dbms_pipe.next_item_type(); -- -> 0, no more items
select dbms_pipe.remove_pipe('my_pipe');
----

There are some differences compared to Oracle, however:

* limit for pipes isn't in bytes but in elements in pipe
* you can send message without waiting
* you can send empty messages
* next_item_type knows about TIMESTAMP (type 13)
* PostgreSQL doesn't know about the RAW type, use bytea instead

== Package dbms_alert

Another means of inter-process communication.

----
-- Session A
select dbms_alert.register('boo');
select * from dbms_alert.waitany(10);

-- Session B
select dbms_alert.register('boo');
select * from dbms_alert.waitany(10);

-- Session C
select dbms_alert.signal('boo','Nice day');
----
					
== Package PLVdate

This module contains some functions for working with business days from
package PLVdate. Detailed documentation can be found in PLVision library.
This package is multicultural, but default configurations are only for
european countries (see source code).

You should define your own non-business days (max 50 days) and own 
holidays (max 30 days). A holiday is any non-business day, which is the same 
every year. For example, Christmas day in Western countries.

=== Functions

* plvdate.add_bizdays(day date, days int) date - Get the date created by adding <n> business days to a date
* plvdate.nearest_bizday(day date) date - Get the nearest business date to a given date, user defined
* plvdate.next_bizday(day date) date - Get the next business date from a given date, user defined
* plvdate.bizdays_between(day1 date, day2 date) int - Get the number of business days between two dates
* plvdate.prev_bizday(day date) date - Get the previous business date from a given date
* plvdate_isbizday(date) bool - Call this function to determine if a date is a business day
* plvdate.set_nonbizday(dow varchar) - Set day of week as non bussines day
* plvdate.unset_nonbizday(dow varchar) - Unset day of week as non bussines day
* plvdate.set_nonbizday(day date) - Set day as non bussines day
* plvdate.unset_nonbizday(day date) - Unset day as non bussines day
* plvdate.set_nonbizday(day date, repeat bool) - Set day as non bussines day, if 'repeat' is true, then day is nonbiz every year
* plvdate.unset_nonbizday(day date, repeat bool) - Unset day as non bussines day, if 'repeat' is true, then day is nonbiz every year
* plvdate.use_easter() - Easter Sunday and easter monday will be holiday
* plvdate.unuse_easter();
* plvdate.use_easter(useit boolean);
* plvdate.using_easter() bool - If we use easter then returns true
* plvdate.use_great_friday() - Easter Great Friday will be holiday
* plvdate.unuse_easter();
* plvdate.use_easter(useit boolean);
* plvdate.using_easter() bool - If we use easter Great Friday as holiday then returns true
* plvdate.include_start() - Include starting date in bizdays_between calculation
* plvdate.noinclude_start();
* plvdate.include_start(include boolean);
* plvdate.including_start() bool;
* plvdate.default_holidays(varchar) - load default configurations. You can use the following configurations:
  Czech, German, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, GB and USA at this moment.
* configuration contains only common holidays for all regions. You can add your own regional holiday with plvdate.set_nonbizday(nonbizday, true)


Example:

----
postgres=# select plvdate.default_holidays('czech');
 default_holidays 
 -----------------
 
(1 row)
postgres=# select to_char(current_date, 'day'),
           plvdate.next_bizday(current_date), 
	   to_char(plvdate.next_bizday(current_date),'day');
  to_char  | next_bizday |  to_char  
 ----------+-------------+-----------
 saturday  | 2006-03-13  | monday   
(1 row)
----

Change for non-European environment:

----
select plvdate.unset_nonbizday('saturday');
select plvdate.unset_nonbizday('sunday');
select plvdate.set_nonbizday('friday');
select plvdate.set_nonbizday('2006-05-19', true);
select plvdate.unuse_easter();
----

== Package PLVstr and PLVchr

This package contains some useful string and character functions. Each
function supports positive and negative offsets -- i.e., offset from the
end of the string. For example:

----
plvstr.left('abcdef',2) -> ab
plvstr.left('abcdef',-2) -> abcd
plvstr.substr('abcdef',1,1) -> a
plvstr.substr('abcdef',-1,1) -> f
plvstr.substr('abcde',-2,1) -> d
----

List of functions:

* plvstr.normalize(str text) - Normalize string - Replace white chars by space, replace  spaces by space
* plvstr.is_prefix(str text, prefix text, cs bool) - Returns true, if prefix is prefix of str
* plvstr.is_prefix(str text, prefix text)          - Returns true, if prefix is prefix of str
* plvstr.is_prefix(str int, prefix int)            - Returns true, if prefix is prefix of str
* plvstr.is_prefix(str bigint, prefix bigint)      - Returns true, if prefix is prefix of str
* plvstr.substr(str text, start int, len int) - Returns substring started on start_in to end
* plvstr.substr(str text, start int)          - Returns substring started on start_in to end
* plvstr.instr(str text, patt text, start int, nth int) - Search pattern in string
* plvstr.instr(str text, patt text, start int)          - Search pattern in string
* plvstr.instr(str text, patt text)                     - Search pattern in string
* plvstr.lpart(str text, div text, start int, nth int, all_if_notfound bool) - Call this function to return the left part of a string
* plvstr.lpart(str text, div text, start int, nth int) - Call this function to return the left part of a string
* plvstr.lpart(str text, div text, start int)          - Call this function to return the left part of a string
* plvstr.lpart(str text, div text)                     - Call this function to return the left part of a string
* plvstr.rpart(str text, div text, start int, nth int, all_if_notfound bool) - Call this function to return the right part of a string
* plvstr.rpart(str text, div text, start int, nth int) - Call this function to return the right part of a string
* plvstr.rpart(str text, div text, start int)          - Call this function to return the right part of a string
* plvstr.rpart(str text, div text)                     - Call this function to return the right part of a string
* plvstr.lstrip(str text, substr text, num int) - Call this function to remove characters from the beginning 
* plvstr.lstrip(str text, substr text)          - Call this function to remove characters from the beginning 
* plvstr.rstrip(str text, substr text, num int) - Call this function to remove characters from the end
* plvstr.rstrip(str text, substr text)          - Call this function to remove characters from the end
* plvstr.rvrs(str text, start int, _end int) - Reverse string or part of string
* plvstr.rvrs(str text, start int)           - Reverse string or part of string
* plvstr.rvrs(str text)                      - Reverse string or part of string
* plvstr.left(str text, n int)  -  Returns firs num_in charaters. You can use negative num_in
* plvstr.right(str text, n int) - Returns last num_in charaters. You can use negative num_ni
* plvstr.swap(str text, replace text, start int, lengh int) - Replace a substring in a string with a specified string
* plvstr.swap(str text, replace text)                       - Replace a substring in a string with a specified string
* plvstr.betwn(str text, start int, _end int, inclusive bool) - Find the Substring Between Start and End Locations
* plvstr.betwn(str text, start text, _end text, startnth int, endnth int, inclusive bool, gotoend bool) - Find the Substring Between Start and End Locations
* plvstr.betwn(str text, start text, _end text) - Find the Substring Between Start and End Locations
* plvstr.betwn(str text, start text, _end text, startnth int, endnth int) - Find the Substring Between Start and End Locations
* plvchr.nth(str text, n int) - Call this function to return the Nth character in a string
* plvchr.first(str text)      - Call this function to return the first character in a string
* plvchr.last(str text)       - Call this function to return the last character in a string
* plvchr.is_blank(c int)  - Is blank
* plvchr.is_blank(c text) - Is blank
* plvchr.is_digit(c int)  - Is digit 
* plvchr.is_digit(c text) - Is digit 
* plvchr.is_quote(c int)  - Is quote
* plvchr.is_quote(c text) - Is quote
* plvchr.is_other(c int)  - Is other
* plvchr.is_other(c text) - Is other
* plvchr.is_letter(c int) - Is letter
* plvchr.is_letter(c text) - Is letter
* plvchr.char_name(c text) - Returns the name of the character to ascii code as a VARCHAR.
* plvchr.quoted1(str text) - Quoted text between '''
* plvchr.quoted2(str text) - Quoted text between '"'
* plvchr.stripped(str text, char_in text) - Strips a string of all instances of the specified characters


== Package PLVsubst

The PLVsubst package performs string substitutions based on a substitution keyword. 

* plvsubst.string(template_in text, vals_in text[])                 - Scans a string for all instances of the substitution keyword and replace it with the next value in the substitution values list
* plvsubst.string(template_in text, vals_in text[], subst_in text)
* plvsubst.string(template_in text, vals_in text, delim_in text)
* plvsubst.string(template_in text, vals_in text, delim_in text, subst_in text)
* plvsubst.setsubst(str text) - Set substitution keyword to default '%s'
* plvsubst.subst() - Retrieve substitution keyword 

Examples:

----
select plvsubst.string('My name is %s %s.', ARRAY['Pavel','Stěhule']);
          string           
 --------------------------
 My name is Pavel Stěhule.
(1 row)

select plvsubst.string('My name is %s %s.', 'Pavel,Stěhule');
          string           
 --------------------------
 My name is Pavel Stěhule.
(1 row)

select plvsubst.string('My name is $$ $$.', 'Pavel|Stěhule','|','$$');
          string           
 --------------------------
 My name is Pavel Stěhule.
(1 row)
----


== Package DBMS_utility

* dms_utility.format_call_stack()  -- return a formatted string with content of call stack

----
postgres=# select foo2();
               foo2               
 ---------------------------------
 -----  Call Stack  -----
   line             object
 number  statement  name
      1  return     function foo
      1  return     function foo1
      1  return     function foo2
(1 row)
----


== Package PLVlex

This package isn't compatible with original PLVlex. 

----
postgres=# select * from 
	plvlex.tokens('select * from a.b.c join d ON x=y', true, true);

 pos | token  | code |  class  | separator | mod  
 ----+--------+------+---------+-----------+------
   0 | select |  527 | KEYWORD |           | 
   7 | *      |   42 | OTHERS  |           | self
   9 | from   |  377 | KEYWORD |           | 
  25 | a.b.c  |      | IDENT   |           | 
  20 | join   |  418 | KEYWORD |           | 
  25 | d      |      | IDENT   |           | 
  27 | on     |  473 | KEYWORD |           | 
  30 | x      |      | IDENT   |           | 
  31 | =      |   61 | OTHERS  |           | self
  32 | y      |      | IDENT   |           | 
(10 rows)
----

Warning: Keyword's codes can be changed between PostgreSQL versions!
o plvlex.tokens(str text, skip_spaces bool, qualified_names bool) - Returns table of lexical elements in str. 

== DBMS_SQL
In this time this package is in independent project https://github.com/okbob/dbms_sql . It introduces a procedures - that are supported by PostgreSQL 11. Orafce runs on PostgreSQL 9.5, so it is not possible to merge DBMS_SQL into Orafce now. If you have PostgreSQL 11 and higher, then you can use DBMS_SQL and Orafce together.

== DBMS_ASSERT

This package protects user input against SQL injection.

* dbms_assert.enquote_literal(varchar) varchar - Add leading and trailing quotes, verify that all single quotes are paired with adjacent single quotes.
* dbms_assert.enquote_name(varchar [, boolean]) varchar - Enclose name in double quotes. Optional second parameter ensure loweralize of name. Attention - On Oracle is second parameter capitalize!
* dbms_assert.noop(varchar) varchar - Returns value without any checking.
* dbms_assert.qualified_sql_name(varchar) varchar - This function verifies that the input string is qualified SQL name.
* dbms_assert.schema_name(varchar) varchar - Function verifies that input string is an existing schema name.
* dbms_assert.simple_sql_name(varchar) varchar -This function verifies that the input string is simple SQL name.
* dbms_assert.object_name(varchar) varchar - Verifies that input string is qualified SQL identifier of an existing SQL object. 

== PLUnit

This unit contains some assert functions.

* plunit.assert_true(bool [, varchar]) - 		Asserts that the condition is true. 
* plunit.assert_false(bool [, varchar]) - 		Asserts that the condition is false. 
* plunit.assert_null(anyelement [, varchar]) -		Asserts that the actual is null.
* plunit.assert_not_null(anyelement [, varchar]) - 	Asserts that the actual isn't null.
* plunit.assert_equals(anyelement, anyelement [, double precision] [, varchar]) - Asserts that expected and actual are equal. 
* plunit.assert_not_equals(anyelement, anyelement [, double precision] [, varchar]) - Asserts that expected and actual are equal. 
* plunit.fail([varchar]) -				Fail can be used to cause a test procedure to fail immediately using the supplied message. 

== Package DBMS_random

* dbms_random.initialize(int) - Initialize package with a seed value.
* dbms_random.normal() - Returns random numbers in a standard normal distribution.
* dbms_random.random() - Returns random number from -2^31 .. 2^31.
* dbms_random.seed(int)
* dbms_random.seed(text) - Reset seed value.
* dbms_random.string(opt text(1), len int) - Create random string
* dbms_random.terminate() - Terminate package (do nothing in Pg)
* dbms_random.value() - Returns a random number from [0.0 - 1.0) 
* dbms_random.value(low double precision, high double precision) - Returns a random number from [low - high)

== Others functions

This module contains implementation of functions: concat, nvl, nvl2, lnnvl, decode,
bitand, nanvl, sinh, cosh, tanh and oracle.substr.

* oracle.substr(str text, start int, len int) - Oracle compatible substring
* oracle.substr(str text, start int)          - Oracle compatible substring
* oracle.substr(str numeric, start numeric)          - Oracle compatible substring
* oracle.substr(str numeric, start numeric, len numeric)          - Oracle compatible substring
* oracle.substr(str varchar, start numeric)          - Oracle compatible substring
* oracle.substr(str varchar, start numeric,len numeric)          - Oracle compatible substring
* oracle.lpad(string, length [, fill])  - Oracle compatible lpad
* oracle.rpad(string, length [, fill])  - Oracle compatible rpad
* oracle.ltrim(string text [, characters text])  - Oracle compatible ltrim
* oracle.rtrim(string text [, characters text])  - Oracle compatible rtrim
* oracle.btrim(string text [, characters text])  - Oracle compatible btrim
* oracle.length(string char)  - Oracle compatible length
* pg_catalog.listagg(str text [, separator text]) - aggregate values to list
* pg_catalog.wm_concat(str text) - aggregate values to comma separatated list
* pg_catalog.median(float4) - calculate a median
* pg_catalog.median(float8) - calculate a median
* pg_catalog.to_number(text) -  converts a string to a number
* pg_catalog.to_number(numeric) -  converts a string to a number
* pg_catalog.to_number(numeric,numeric) -  converts a string to a number
* public.to_multi_byte(text) - Convert all single-byte characters to their corresponding multibyte characters
* public.to_single_byte(text) - Convert all multi-byte characters to their corresponding single-byte characters

You might need to set search_path to 'oracle, pg_catalog, "$user", public'
because oracle.substr, oracle.lpad, oracle.rpad, oracle.ltrim, oracle.rtrim, oracle.btrim, oracle.length are installed side-by-side with pg_catalog.substr, pg_catalog.lpad, pg_catalog.rpad, pg_catalog.ltrim, pg_catalog.rtrim, pg_catalog.btrim, pg_catalog.length respectively.

Note that in case of lpad and rpad, parameters string and fill can be of types CHAR, VARCHAR, TEXT, VARCHAR2 or NVARCHAR2 (note that the last two are orafce-provided types). The default fill character is a half-width space. Similarly for ltrim, rtrim and btrim.

Note that oracle.length has a limitation that it works only in units of characters because PostgreSQL CHAR type only supports character semantics. 

== VARCHAR2 and NVARCHAR2 Support

orafce's VARCHAR2 implements parts of Oracle database specification about VARCHAR2:

* Unit of type modifier = 'bytes' (for character semantics, see NVARCHAR2)
* Unlike PostgreSQL varchar, implicit cast to VARCHAR2 does not truncate
  white spaces over declared maximum length
* For these types is possible to use null safe || operator, when you enable
  orafce.varchar2_null_safe_concat TO true . The behave is very similar to Oracle.

  Attention: - when result is empty string, then result is NULL. This behaviour is
  disabled by default.

  Attention: - there is possible incompatibility between 3.7 and older Orafce
  releases. A operator function is now marked as stable (was immutable before).
  It's not possible to create functional indexes over stable or volatile expressions.

----
-- null safe concat (disabled by default)
SELECT NULL || 'hello'::varchar2 || NULL;

SET orafce.varchar2_null_safe_concat TO true;
SELECT NULL || 'hello'::varchar2 || NULL;
----

Please note that PostgreSQL does not allow to dynamically specify how we
interpret varchar strings. It always interprets them as 'character' strings
as determined by database encoding. So, we cannot support both BYTE and
CHARACTER semantics for a given varchar type in the same database. We chose
to implement the BYTE semantics as that is default in Oracle. For CHARACTER
semantics, please see NVARCHAR2 which by default always implements the
CHARACTER semantics.

Please be careful when using the above type to store strings consisting of
multibyte encoded characters wherein each character may be composed of an
arbitrary number of bytes.

NVARCHAR2 implements the following:

* Unit of type modifier = 'characters' (using the character set/encoding of the database)

Use this type if character semantics is preferred.

Please note that unlike Oracle, orafce's VARCHAR2 and NVARCHAR2 do not impose the 4000 bytes limit on the 'declared' size.
In fact it is same as that of PostgreSQL varchar, which is about 10MB (although varchar can theoretically store values of size up to 1GB)

Some byte-based string functions to be used with VARCHAR2 strings

* substrb(VARCHAR2, int [, int]) - extract a substring of specified length (in bytes) starting at a given byte position (counting from one); if the third argument isnot specified then length to the end of the string is considered
* strposb(VARCHAR2, VARCHAR2) - returns the location of specified substring in a given string (counting from one)
* lengthb(VARCHAR2) - returns the length (in bytes) of a given string

== Triggers ==

Oracle doesn't make differences between NULL and empty string (when a value
is used as text). For Postgres NULL and empty string are different values.
For simplicity is good to ensure (in Postgres database) use only NULLs (and
don't use empty strings) or use only empty strings (and don't use NULLs) for
text type columns. Both variants has some advantages and disadvantages.

This can be enusured with trigger functions:

----
oracle.replace_empty_strings([raise_warnings boolean])
oracle.replace_null_strings([raise_warnings boolean])
----

Optional boolean argument is used as indicator so these functions should to
raise warning when row was changed inside these functions.

----
CREATE TABLE test(id serial, name varchar, surname varchar);
CREATE TRIGGER test_trg
  BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE
  ON test
  FOR EACH ROW
  EXECUTE PROCEDURE oracle.replace_empty_strings();

INSERT INTO test(name, surname) VALUES('', 'Stehule');

-- name will be replaced by NULL
----

== Emulated views

* oracle.user_tab_columns
* oracle.user_tables
* oracle.user_cons_columns
* oracle.user_constraints
* oracle.product_componenent_version
* oracle.user_objects
* oracle.dba_segments

== TODO

* better documentation                                             
* better seralization in dbms_pipe (via _send and _recv functions) 
* alter shared memory structures by temporary tables: only locks are in shmem, (bitmaps), data in tmp tbl

== License

This module is released under BSD licence. 

== Contributors

The project was founded in 2008 by Pavel Stehule <stehule@kix.fsv.cvut.cz>.

Other contributors:

* Gabriele Bartolini (gbartolini)
* Jeffrey Cohen (jcohen)
* Giles Darold (darold)
* Pavan Deolasee (pavanvd)
* Peter Eisentraut (petere)
* Beena Emerson (b-emerson)
* Takahiro Itagaki (itagaki)
* Zdenek Kotala (hlipa)
* Amit Langote (amitlan)
* Heikki Linnakangas (hlinnaka)
* Fujii Masao
* Marco Nenciarini (mnencia)
* Vinayak Pokale
* Gavin Sherry (swm)
* Pavel Stehule (okbob)
* Rahila Syed (rahila)
