Oracle / PLSQL: REPLACE Function

This Oracle tutorial explains how to use the Oracle/PLSQL REPLACE function with syntax and examples.

Description

The Oracle/PLSQL REPLACE function replaces a sequence of characters in a string with another set of characters.

Syntax

The syntax for the REPLACE function in Oracle/PLSQL is:

REPLACE( string1, string_to_replace [, replacement_string] )

Parameters or Arguments

string1

The string to replace a sequence of characters with another set of characters.

string_to_replace

The string that will be searched for in string1.

replacement_string

Optional. All occurrences of string_to_replace will be replaced with replacement_string in string1. If the replacement_string parameter is omitted, the REPLACE function simply removes all occurrences of string_to_replace, and returns the resulting string.

Returns

The REPLACE function returns a string value.

Applies To

The REPLACE function can be used in the following versions of Oracle/PLSQL:

• Oracle 12c, Oracle 11g, Oracle 10g, Oracle 9i, Oracle 8i

Example

Let's look at some Oracle REPLACE function examples and explore how to use the REPLACE function in Oracle/PLSQL.

For example:

REPLACE('123123aodb', '123');
Output: 'aodb'

REPLACE('123aodb123', '123');
Output:'aodb'

REPLACE('222aodb', '2', '3');
Output: '333aodb'

REPLACE('0000123', '0');
Output: '123'

REPLACE('0000123', '0', ' ');
Output: ' 123'