Oracle PL/SQL : remove “space characters” from a string

Question

In my Oracle 10g database I would like to remove \"space characters\" (spaces, tabs, carriage returns...) from the values of a table field.

Is TRANSLATE() t

Answer 1

To remove any whitespaces you could use:

myValue := replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(myValue, chr(32)), chr(9)),  chr(10)), chr(11)), chr(12)), chr(13));

Example: remove all whitespaces in a table:

update myTable t
    set t.myValue = replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(t.myValue, chr(32)), chr(9)), chr(10)), chr(11)), chr(12)), chr(13))
where
    length(t.myValue) > length(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(t.myValue, chr(32)), chr(9)), chr(10)), chr(11)), chr(12)), chr(13)));

or

update myTable t
    set t.myValue = replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(t.myValue, chr(32)), chr(9)), chr(10)), chr(11)), chr(12)), chr(13))
where
    t.myValue like '% %'