Using the “IN” clause with a comma delimited string from the output of a replace() function in Oracle SQL

Question

I have an comma delimited string which I want to use in an \"IN\" clause of the statement. eg: 100,101,102

Since In and \"IN\" clause I have to quote the individial

Answer 1

pure SQL, but not very well tested...

select to_number(substr(postfix, 2, instr(postfix, ',' ,2)-2)) id 
  from (
       select substr(val, instr(val, ',', 1, n)) postfix 
         from (select ',101,102,103,' val from dual)
     , (
       select level n
         from dual 
      connect by level < 10) 
  where instr(val, ',', 1, n) > 0)
 where  instr(postfix, ',' ,2)> 2;

EDIT: improved

select substr(postfix, 1, instr(postfix, ',' ,1)-1)
  from (
       select substr(val, instr(val, ',',1, level)+1) postfix
         from (select ',101,102,103,' val from dual)
      connect by instr(val, ',', 2, level) > 0
  );

Note:

• pre/post fix your strings with comma
• adopt the upper limit (10 in the example) as per your needs (not needed in the improved version).
• use the in_list table function mentioned by Justing Cave, that's probably better :)

credit: something like that is in Stephane Faroult's book "Refactorying SQL Applications" (O'Reilly)